Blogs and Articles
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Shift to Delicious – Nova Scotian Food
When you buy local food, you vote with your food dollar for family farms, thriving communities, and healthy, flavorful, plentiful food.
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Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes
What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TED Salon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community. Pam Warhurst cofounded Incredible Edible, an initiative in Todmorden, England dedicated to growing food locally by planting on unused land throughout the community. Full bio »
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Producing More Food in Nova Scotia
Several of the Directors are traveling widely around Nova Scotia to meet with food producers who have applied, or are interested in applying, for loans from FarmWorks. We are increasing our knowledge of food production while enjoying the people, food, rural and urban amenities and the scenery (at our own expense, needless to say). It is evident that there is tremendous capacity for food production in this Province, limited primarily by demand. FarmWorks is promoting the message that FOOD GROWS HERE to encourage people to buy more food ...
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Small Farmers Creating a New Business Model as Agriculture Goes Local
Kirk Johnson, New York Times, July 1st, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/us/small-scale-farmers-creating-a-new-profit-model.html?_r=1 Excerpts: "..... beyond the familiar mantras about nutrition or reduced fossil fuel use, the movement toward local food is creating a vibrant new economic laboratory for American agriculture. The result, with its growing army of small-scale local farmers, is as much about dollars as dinner: a reworking of old models about how food gets sold and farms get financed, and who gets dirt under their fingernails doing the work. “The future ...
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Vermont ‘Farm to Plate’ to Create Jobs and Strengthen Local Food System
Vermont is an example of how state-level legislative support can help regional, mid-sized, and small producers and rural communities. The state has developed polices aimed at community-based agricultural economic development aligned with local and regional food system infrastructure development. In 2009, the Vermont Legislature passed the Farm to Plate (F2P) initiative as part of the state’s jobs bill. Estimates of the F2P plan include 1,500 jobs over the next 10 years based on a five percent increase in food system production and an accompanying annual increase of $88 million in the state’s gross domestic product. Currently, 12.9 percent of private ...
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Local Food is a Regional Economic Driver
In its 2010 paper, Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts and Issues, the USDA cites empirical research that has found that expanding local food systems in a community can increase employment and income in that community[3]. Studies suggest the economic impact of regional food systems are most likely felt in the form of income and employment growth, particularly where import substitution – either of regional food products or of regional food services such as processing – results in more money staying within the region as opposed to being ...