Can't understate the value of agriculture

It’s something we all take for granted, but it’s so important to everyone.

As international agritourism and marketing expert Jane Eckert says, it’s important to anyone who eats and it doesn’t stop there.

A Missouri farmer’s daughter with corporate experience, Eckert was in town last week to speak at the Eastern Kings Chamber of Commerce quarterly meeting at the Old Orchard Inn. She also conducted a workshop for AgraPoint earlier in the day.

Though many previous speakers have noted how the agriculture community has to interact further with the urban community to survive and prosper and how new crops can bring in new money, Eckert took it further when she pointed out that the whole community benefits from the farm sector.

I found that to be impressive. She has had experience in helping to build her own family farms into destinations for 500,000 people a year.



Family farms, huge impact

A healthy farm economy benefits everyone in the county, she told the Chamber. In fact, it benefits everyone in the province, country and continent.

In the community -- any community in North America -- family farming pays employees, it buys equipment and fuels, it provides better, fresher foods from a short distance, and, if it includes direct marketing and agritourism, brings in outside visitors. Everyone else benefits, from selling gasoline to overnight accommodations to snacks.

Local consumers, schools, hospitals and restaurants have to adopt the idea of “buy local,� she said. It’s better food because it hasn’t had to travel that far. It’s fresher and more nutritious.

That’s fine. But to a farmer dealing only in the commodities of his sector, one bad harvest can wipe out a year’s income and what he can buy from other businesses in the community.

As well, even a bad storm can damage a crop just enough that people won’t want to buy the products. These are things local producers know all too well.



Diversification is necessary

So diversification and value-added capabilities are necessary.

And we’re lucky here in the Maritimes because most of our farmers are into various crops. One can often cover the other.

For example, for at least one producer it was a bad year for things like onions, but it went very well for their high bush blueberries.

Farmers have the land, it’s valuable, and not just for growing stuff. But, as Eckert noted, after it becomes a subdivision, it’ll never be farmland again.

This is something Kings County municipal council has known for decades. But just how to regulate it without negatively affecting growth and farm incomes is a difficult balancing act and a very inexact science.

Finding new ways to make money off agricultural lands and keeping them agricultural lands has to be a priority for business, political and community leadership – forever.

As Eckert – like others before her – noted, farmers have to reinvent and reinvest in how they use it. This includes things like a cheese factory, quality restaurants, direct marketing, guest homes, recreation facilities, and vineyards.

In fact, western Nova Scotia has become a destination for those seeking fine wines and the proper atmosphere in which to experience them.

Outside visitors to these attractions bring in money as consumers, she said, but don’t impact the service infrastructure – hospitals, schools and so on.

Numerous direct farm markets in the area have added attractions to their operations: corn mazes, petting zoos, and even performers. But many haven’t gotten around to actually charging for much of it. It’s that old Maritime hospitality, for sure.



It all costs

Eckert cautioned that stuff like entertainment costs and there has to be a charge. A farm is, after all, a business, and entertainment is a business expense.

At the same time, however, the consumer still gets quality domestic products, relatively inexpensive entertainment and a valuable education.

Visitors and folks within the community want to meet the producers of their food. They also experience the reality of food production.

It’s something that not just customers and agritourists have to understand from the roots up.

And the EKCC’s agriculture committee – the fact that it has one – is indicative of how well the word is getting out.



Offer a reminder

This is a good time of year for us to appreciate the agriculture community and its contributions. Urban people, and even people far from major urban centres, have to be reminded where food comes from and who produces it and how, and how important it is to everyone’s livelihood.

As I’ve been on about for ages now, we need our own safe, secure, as inexpensive as realistically possible food source for economic, but also strategic reasons. What if we were ever embargoed for some reason, or world markets draw away most available foods?

As well, we need our own energy resources: wind, hydro, solar as well as efficiently used fossil fuels, and we need our own steel and shipbuilding capabilities.

Sure, maybe we can purchase offshore -- and often have to, regardless of economic and supply reasons -- but the main domestic capabilities have to remain major options. Again, this is the case as long as we’re to be a truly independent country.

As Maritimers and Canadians, we have long learned not to depend on anyone else for anything for very long. And we all have to eat.