Using Machine Learning to Forecast Changes in Canada’s Food Prices

This talk will be presented by Kristina Kupferschmidt, an Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the University of Prince Edward Island. It’s the third event in the Atlantic Canada Data Science Tour, a hybrid seminar series organized by CANSSI Atlantic and geared toward upper-level undergraduates in statistics or computer science programs. The host will be Joanna Mills Flemming, Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Associate Dean of Graduate and Global Relations at Dalhousie University. Joanna is also the Regional Director of CANSSI Atlantic.

Understanding how food prices change is essential for Canadian households, especially with recent inflation and global challenges impacting affordability. Each year, Canada’s Food Price Report (CFPR) predicts food price trends for the coming year. While recent reports have used machine learning (ML) to improve these forecasts, the 2024 and 2025 editions have also incorporated a “human-in-the-loop” approach to model development. In this study, we explored new strategies for working with food pricing experts to further improve forecast reliability. We investigated how different types of models predict changes in food prices and examined how sensitive these models are to various sets of data.

Kristina Kupferschmidt is a newly appointed Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the University of Prince Edward Island. She recently completed a PhD in computer engineering with a focus on machine learning at the University of Guelph.

Kristina’s research focuses on applied artificial intelligence (AI). Her interests lie in responsible AI deployment and improving the real-world translation of machine learning (ML) technologies. She has co-founded two companies, worked as a biomedical engineer and ML developer in both small startup and industry environments, and is currently the Lead Scientist-in-Residence for the NEXT-AI accelerator program. In addition to her work, Kristina serves as the co-chair of the CEPS Indigenization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and is actively conducting research on inclusivity within the field of AI.

Host or Publisher Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute