Charlie MacLean – Chair

Charlie MacLean grew up in North Sydney, and spent many hours working in the family garden. Upon completing high school, he attended Acadia University and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration. During the time at Acadia, he also worked in the Food Service Department to help make ends meet. Upon graduation he was employed with Saga Corporation as a Food Service Manager at Acadia, and later as Food Service Director at St. F. X. University, Saint John General Hospital, Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, and back to Halifax at University of ...

Stephen Read – Director

I was raised in Sydney Nova Scotia, spending my early years both in the city and in the rural forest. Summer jobs were working in a wholesale building supply yard. I then spent five years in a forestry degree program at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. During the next five years I worked in sales for wholesale building supplies and became manager of branch operations. In 1983 I started my own forestry consulting company and quickly added silviculture and harvesting crews and a sawmill. The crews also tackled ...

Robin McAdam – Vice-chair

Robin McAdam has worked in business development for most of the past 20 years with a focus on renewable energy.  He is currently Vice President Major Developments with Emera Inc., while previously Executive Vice-President Sustainability for Nova Scotia Power and President of Emera Brunswick Pipeline.  He was a consultant with KPMG Management Consulting specializing in market and financial analysis and a Lecturer at the Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business.  As a volunteer, he has chaired the Greater Halifax Partnership and the Municipal Affairs Committee of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.  He is currently ...

Natalie Ibbott Smith – Director

While president of the board of directors of Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia, Natalie promoted the province’s farmers markets’ expanding opportunities for economic development, rural livelihoods, community growth, and a thriving sense of place. Natalie led the Yarmouth Façade Program “What the façade program was intended to do is, number one, to make the town in general – which is a micro-economy – safe and inviting. If people are there, then the lights are on when the business is open. It’s safe, it’s walkable, Number two is to make it inclusive, so that people feel ...

Fixing food for the health of Nova Scotia

Fixing food for the health of Nova Scotia What are we eating? For too many of us, it isn’t Michael Pollan’s prescription: “eat food, not too much, mostly plants” We’re eating lots of processed foods – highly processed foods – with additives including preservatives, lots of sugar and salt and taste enhancements. These foods are easy to buy and prepare quickly to provide calories. They’re also easy to waste. Taste buds may accept these foods but our health doesn’t. What we eat can cause obesity and diabetes and heart disease and cancer and overall poor health. And that affects the way we live, ...

Considering Our Options

"Society broadly needs to change the circumstances for all members of our society to enable people to have options and live differently. In our small province we could actually achieve this." Dr. John Ross, Chronicle Herald April 1st, 2016 We have options, and not all of them require difficult choices. Many of us worry about challenges while perhaps overlooking local solutions. Dr. Ross describes the Social Determinants of Health which, among others, include income and income distribution; employment and job security; food security; social connections and safety network.  There are options that can have a positive effect on these determinants. We can choose an apple ...

Local Prosperity: FarmWorks is helping to grow local entrepreneurs and their businesses

The Centre for Local Prosperity brought a wide range of speakers and citizens together in Annapolis Royal and Cornwallis Park over four days in April 2015 to consider New Economics for Rural Canada. Conference Keynote speaker, economist Michael Shuman, has written that  Americans’ long-term savings in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and life insurance funds total about $30 trillion (America 330 M, Canada 33 M people). But not even 1 percent of these savings touch local small business—even though roughly half the jobs and the output in the private economy come from them. So, how can people increasingly concerned with ...

FarmWorks 2016 Impact Report Information

Impacts of Local Investment – Survey of FarmWorks Clients Economic and Social Impacts of FarmWorks Support for Food Related Businesses in Nova Scotia Anticipated figures for 2018 based on 104 (relative to 38) businesses that have received $3,800,000 (relative to $1,005,500): revenue $20,000,000 +, expenses $18,000,000 +, full or part-time jobs 475. “I think that entrepreneurs should boast about the support that we receive and where we receive it. Too often I see an article on a start-up entrepreneur and they do not mention the support that they received early on, and ...

Independent Director

FarmWorks Receives National Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 14, 2014 FarmWorks honoured among Tides Top 10 awardees Tides Canada named FarmWorks Investment Co-operative Limited among its Tides Top 10 – a national annual award honouring some of Canada’s most innovative social change efforts that inspire people to take action, think in new ways and make the world a better place. We chose them for: Creating meaningful partnerships with investors and with loan recipients, businesses and other lenders – partnerships that contribute to the growth of food-related enterprises across Nova Scotia. “Our Tides Top 10 ...