Future tied to local agriculture

Cattle producers in the Caledonia area told Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister, Brooke Taylor Feb. 26 small farm Nova Scotia is dieing but the government can still help nurture a sustainable industry.

Buying locally produced agricultural products doesn’t just provide health benefits to a population, but also offers jobs, taxes, food security and less toxic emissions that are causing or speeding up global warming, they repeatedly stated as he toured area farms and met with a group of farmers at a meeting in Caledonia.

Kerry Morash invited the minister at the request of farmers and participated in the tour.

Jim Crooker, a South Brookfield farmer, said, “We’ve been farming here for the last 200 years or more and I’d like to see it continue. If we don’t look after our local sources of food, what will we get in the future?”

Although there are a myriad of agricultural programs aimed at helping farmers, Crooker, and others said they would prefer it to be a self-sustaining industry.

“Only 15 per cent of Nova Scotia beef sold is locally produced,” he said for example. Farmers repeatedly advised Taylor the province could help the industry by using Nova Scotia products in government operations, such as nursing homes and jails.

This alone, they said, would be enough to not only help current farmers survive, but expand as well.

Arthur Conrad, a West Caledonia farmer, is passionate about the environment and maintaining a local agriculture industry.

He said Nova Scotia should look at Cuba’s example, a country that has created a “semi-sustainable” industry, adding he fears Nova Scotians won’t respond until the local food supply has dried up.

“All of a sudden we’re going to wake up one morning and the beef is not going to be there.” He said he estimates there are only 500 cattle in all of North Queens compared to about 5,000 a century ago.

Crooker added North Queens was nearly self-sufficient four decades ago.

Conrad recognizes, however, people buy what is least expensive because most have little disposable income. In this case, beef from Western Canada, with many single farms hosting vastly more cattle than is found in this entire province, is often least expensive.

However, he said Nova Scotians still lose money in the end. An expanded industry, more value-added products and the resulting jobs would translate into government tax revenues that are currently exported elsewhere.

And, Conrad said, transporting produce and meat from around the world is greatly increasing global warming.

At present, both men are subsidizing their farms with their pensions, which they said isn’t exactly attractive to young people wishing to become farmers.

When questioned by the farmers about utilizing Nova Scotia harvested food in government-operated facilities, Taylor said there are “trade issues” that need to be rectified. He agreed with the farmers, however.

He advised them a well-respected entrepreneur is currently working to build three “supermarkets” in the province that will only sell Nova Scotia products. He said this is a good sign for the future.

He also heard at the meeting about the lack of agriculture workers, a need to work with New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as a “single province” in terms of this industry and the need for education programs that explain the benefits of buying Nova Scotia products and for better labeling.

He was also told large grocery store companies shouldn’t be permitted to sell products, such as blueberries during the harvest season, at a loss, and some federal programs won’t recognize that farmers who subsidize their operations through outside work are still farmers, and need to access funding as well, even if the agriculture component of their income isn’t deemed high enough.

One man said, “This (history of farming) is what made Nova Scotia the province it is today. Now, it’s time to put something back because we’re done doing this for nothing.”

Taylor agreed, “Farmers have got to get a return.” He said this is a priority and he promised action “in the not too distant future.”

He said the province is working, through new funding, with the Nova Scotia Cattlemen’s Association to create a long-term strategy.