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An Annapolis Valley farmer is excited about a new provincial pilot program that will help lessen the cost of local produce for some Nova Scotians.
The Department of Growth and Development announced Thursday that people who want to take part will soon be able to receive a 10 per cent discount to buy fresh, locally grown food directly from farmers through the Nova Scotia Loyal program.
“It’s just like a total win-win for both us and consumers as far as I can tell,” said Josh Oulton, owner of Taproot Farms in Port Williams, N.S.
The discount will apply to community-based agriculture subscriptions, also known as farm shares, through which people pay up front for a share of a farm’s harvest.
People who are subscribed with a farm receive a delivery of various amounts of produce, including vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat. Participating farms that provide the 10 per cent discount to customers are reimbursed by Nova Scotia Loyal.
“It’s a really good system, that way it gives you some sort of security,” said Oulton, who helped orchestrate the new discount program. His farm offers farm shares and he suggested to the province and the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture that an initiative should be created to help promote community-based agriculture programs.
Oulton hopes the new program helps more people understand community-based agriculture and how it provides a consistent revenue stream to farms and more regular access to local foods for consumers.
The Department of Growth and Development says it is budgeting $200,000 for the program.
Tawny Stowe, a blueberry farmer in Oxford, said she thinks the program will be beneficial to both farmers and consumers.
“I think the end user, the customer, is going to feel a great benefit from feeling like they’re getting a discount off of their vegetables for an entire fresh season,” said Stowe.
“Is it going to mitigate last year’s problems? No, definitely not. But the more people investing in our local food system, the better.”
Stowe is one of many farmers who were impacted by the unprecedented drought last summer. She lost an entire crop of blueberries and the income they would have generated for her farm.
Stowe does not qualify to be part of the program, she said, because she harvests nothing but blueberries and the model is not typically designed for one crop.
While she commends the initiatives Nova Scotia Loyal has created to help farmers, she is hopeful more will come after all that was lost last year.
“It’s unfortunate that that’s not going to really support the blueberry market, but maybe it opens up more conversations. What programs could we create? And I don’t have all the answers, but maybe we can do it together.”
A news release from the Department of Growth and Development says there are currently 12 farms in the province that offer farm shares.
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