Sugar shortage a bitter pill for Lethbridge-area bakeries at Christmastime
While Christmas orders continue to come in at Bootsma Bakery in Lethbridge, staff are feeling a shortage of sugar – an ingredient used in most of the goods they make.
"It's a scary time to be a bakery because we rely on sugar for most of our Christmas baking," said owner Jamie Bootsma.
Rogers Sugar, owned by Lantic Inc., saw 138 workers walk off the job in late September.
The workers are fighting to keep eight-hour shifts that run Monday to Friday.
The B.C. plant is one of only three Rogers Sugar refineries in Canada.
Although Bootsma gets her sugar from the Taber, Alta., plant, she is not immune to the shortage.
"Our supplier actually has to give written permission from his vice-president of his company to release any brown-sugar bags," she said.
"So even if that request is sent in, we're not guaranteed to be getting any.
"There are some alternatives, but they don't taste the same.
"Splenda is also hard to come by. Honey can also be used as a substitute in some things, but it'll affect the end product and at a busy time like Christmas, we don't have the time to be trying different techniques."
The shortage isn't actually of sugar – it's of workers.
The Alberta Sugar Beet Growers (ASBG) had an above-average year.
"This year, we had a record crop," said Jennifer Crowson, executive director of the ASBG.
"We're sitting at about 855,000 tonnes brought into the plant, which is on average for every year. So as far as a sugar beet shortage, there is not a sugar beet shortage."
Crowson says the hot summer, plus irrigation, allowed for the beets to thrive, with an average extractable sugar rate of 17 per cent.
Two hundred farms began digging the crops in September and wrapped up at the beginning of November with all beets delivered to the Taber refinery.
"In past years, an average yield is about 33 tonnes an acre and we were around 35-36 tonnes per acre," Crowson said.
Shelves in Lethbridge grocery stores are either empty or have limits on the number of bags customers are allowed to purchase.
Bootsma is hopeful the sugar rush will end and her bottom line won't suffer too much.
"I'm a little hesitant to be raising costs right now because I know everyone is going through a hard economic time but if it continues and we don't see it come back down, then it will have an impact on the final product," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bird flu, measles top 2025 concerns for Canada's chief public health officer
As we enter 2025, Dr. Theresa Tam has her eye on H5N1 bird flu, an emerging virus that had its first human case in Canada this year.
DEVELOPING Body found in wheel well of plane at Maui airport
A person was found dead in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight to Maui on Tuesday.
Raised in Sask. after his family fled Hungary, this man spent decades spying on communists for the RCMP
As a Communist Party member in Calgary in the early 1940s, Frank Hadesbeck performed clerical work at the party office, printed leaflets and sold books.
Police identify victim of Christmas Day homicide in Hintonburg, charge suspect
The Ottawa Police Service says the victim who has been killed on Christmas Day in Hintonburg has been identified.
Christmas shooting at Phoenix airport leaves 3 people wounded
Police are investigating a Christmas shooting at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix that left three people injured by gunfire.
Ship remains stalled on St-Lawrence River north of Montreal
A ship that lost power on the St. Lawrence River on Christmas Eve, remains stationary north of Montreal.
Your kid is spending too much time on their phone. Here's what to do about it
Wondering what your teen is up to when you're not around? They are likely on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat, according to a new report.
Bird flu kills more than half the big cats at a Washington sanctuary
Bird flu has been on the rise in Washington state and one sanctuary was hit hard: 20 big cats – more than half of the facility’s population – died over the course of weeks.
6,000 inmates stage Christmas Day escape from high-security Mozambique prison
At least 6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique's capital on Christmas Day after a rebellion, the country's police chief said, as widespread post-election riots and violence continue to engulf the country.