This year, Food Freedom Day in Canada is February 9, 2019. Food Freedom Day, which was coined and calculated by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), marks the date the average Canadian will have earned enough income to pay for their grocery bill for the entire year. It takes 40 days for the average Canadian to earn enough money to pay for their food for the year.

Food Freedom Day is calculated by taking Canadians’ total expenditure on food and beverages and dividing it by the total Canadian household disposable income to create a percentage. CFA then determines what this percentage of the year is, by day. In 2018, Canadians spent 11% of their disposable income on food and beverages, which is equal to the 11% of disposable income spent on food in 2017.

Food Freedom Day also serves as an annual reminder that we are truly lucky to have access to an abundance of healthy, safe and affordable food choices.