Farmers will get some help from the Nova Scotia government to expand their operaitons. (Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture via Facebook)
The Nova Scotia government is devoting $5 million over the next three years to help new and existing farmers buy farmland to encourage more agriculture.
“Young farmers and growing family operations often struggle to find affordable farmland to expand their business. This program gives them a practical way to grow their farms and secure their future,” Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow said Thursday in announcing the program at the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture’s Farmers’ Forum in Truro.
The Program for Accessing Agricultural Land will be administered by the Nova Scotia Farm Loan Board, which is a Crown lending agency under the Department of Agriculture.
The three-year pilot program includes four streams:
a low-cost land-leasing option for new farmers and for exisiting farmers to expand their farms
a second land-leasing option that allows farmers to build equity for a future purchase
deferred financing to help grow new farms
startup loans for land, equipment and livestock to help new farmers
As of March, the Farm Loand Boardhad $314 million in loans issued to 380 clients located mainly in rural Nova Scotia, according to the Department of Agriculture. That supported 3,180 full-time-equivalent employees, $191.6 million in gross domestic product and $35.8 million in provincial tax revenue
Dale Richardson and Matthew Roy speak to the Queens Garden Club about an innovative greenhouse project in Shelburne. (Rick Conrad)
The conditions are ideal for Queens County to become a local food powerhouse just like the Annapolis Valley, advocates say.
The area’s temperate climate and natural biodiversity are two big factors in its favour, members of the Queens Garden Club heard on Thursday evening.
The club’s Mary White says it’s time to devote some resources to harnessing that potential.
“We want some green initiatives here in Queens County,” she said. “We have some very lovely spots that they could go in and that not only could it help with things like food security, it could help with our economics. There’s no reason why everybody should go to the Valley and not go here.
“We have the same resources, and we’re able to do the same sorts of things.”
About 30 people gathered at the Thomas H. Raddall Library in Liverpool on Thursday to hear how that might be done.
The garden club invited Dale Richardson, a municipal councillor in Shelburne, and farmer Matthew Roy to talk about an innovative solar-powered and geothermal greenhouse project in Shelburne. Both were involved in the project.
The volunteer-run project is about 90 per cent complete. It will produce thousands of kilograms of fresh produce year-round for the community to help combat local food insecurity.
Roy is co-owner of Coastal Grove Farm in Upper Port LaTour, Canada’s only certified organic tea grower and the country’s only certified saffron grower. The farm is also the largest commercial vegetable producer in Shelburne County.
He said communities in southwestern Nova Scotia need to start thinking seriously about becoming more food independent.
“Nova Scotia in general only has three days of food in the province,” he said. “Just digest that for a moment. … The rest of it has to get imported from other places, which isn’t bad when there’s not geopolitical issues, when there’s not climate change issues that bring dryness or droughts or interrupts transportation. … I think it’s really relevant to be thinking about where is our food coming from? And do we have the local production?”
Roy said that with only 19 registered farms in all of Queens County, there isn’t enough capacity to put food on the shelves if disaster struck.
“What has happened in Shelburne, I think would be really beneficial to have that replicated up and down the southwestern shore.”
Milton resident Kathy Chute said she’s impressed with what they’re doing in Shelburne.
“I’m jealous. I think we could do it here, no problem. and maybe even up in Milton. You know, that unused area by the swimming pool, we could put a nice greenhouse in there.”
White says farming could be as big an industry in Queens County as forestry and fishing.
“This area in particular was more about forestry and fishing, that sort of thing, and really they just let other people provide the food for them. And now it’s time for us to take that resource back. … It’s time for us to look at another natural resource that we have, and that is our outdoor space.”
