Newly announced funding programs that would provide support for the Nova Scotia agriculture industry have been put on hold after a cold reception from farmers.
“We had promises that there would be special programming for small farms and there was nothing,” said Domenic Padula, owner of Moon Fire Farms in Hants County and member of the Hants County Federation of Farmers. “I’ve been putting out fires for the last week. They are not happy.”
Padula and other small-operation farmers are reacting to program guidelines that deny farms making less than $30,000 in gross annual income from receiving funding.
The Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture announced the new funding programs last week. The five new streams of funding, which in Nova Scotia are worth $37 million, are part of a shared investment between provincial and federal governments, with the federal government contributing 60 per cent and the remaining 40 per cent covered by the province.
The five new programs, which can be viewed on the Government of Nova Scotia’s website, focus heavily on initiatives aimed at making Nova Scotia’s agricultural sector more competitive in a global market.
“We have an employee who has been working with us for five years and he just bought the farm next door,” said David Greenberg, of the Abundant Acres farm also in Hants County. “In the previous funding framework there was a new entrance to agriculture accommodation, and they took that out.”
Under that previous framework, Greenberg says, he and his wife, who started the farm in 2012, were able to receive a funding grant to help with the cost of a new greenhouse. According to Greenberg that same assistance will not be offered to their employeehoping to start his farm this year.
“He was hoping to get a similar grant in the new funding framework, but he’s not eligible because he doesn’t have the $30,000 in gross sales yet,” said Greenberg in an interview.
“It seems that government money can make an attractive business environment and focus on small business which drives a lot of economic development, especially in Nova Scotia, or you can put the money in a big barrel and have the big guys feed at it, and hope that it will trickle down.”
In an email, the Government of Nova Scotia has said that a Small Farms Acceleration program is being developed to help small commercial farms become more profitable. These programs will go to farms that make between $10,000 and $30,000 in gross farm revenue.
But in a statement from the Nova Scotia Federation of Farmers, made two days after the government’s initial announcement, NSFA president Victor Oulton said leaving out the small farm program will hurt, not help, agriculture in Nova Scotia.
“The potential for industry growth is significant, especially with more than 50 per cent of farms generating under $30,000 in gross farm revenue. The exclusion of these farms from programs is a great barrier to the growth of the agriculture industry,” he said.
Not long after that statement was released, the five new programs were put on hold by the provincial government.
“They got back to us and they’ve postponed programs for 30 days until we’ve had a chance to meet with them,” Oulton said in an interview.
Oulton is also scheduled to meet with the Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell on May 1.
