Towards a Healthy Farm and Food Sector: indicators of Genuine Progress

Jennifer Scott and Ronald Colman
GPI Atlantic
October 2008

This 338-page report—the last (and possibly most important) of six volumes in the GPI Soils and Agriculture Accounts developed over more than a decade—examines the contribution of agriculture to rural community viability in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island from an economic, social, environmental, and community perspective.

The study looks at trends in wages paid by farms, ratios of wages to farm expenses and receipts, jobs in agriculture, age of farmers and potential for farm renewal, food imports vs purchase of local food, percentage of consumer food dollar going back to farmers, and the wide range of economic, social, and environmental contributions made by farms to rural communities in the two provinces. It suggests new indicators required to track progress towards a healthy farm and food sector in the Maritimes.

The report also examines the economic and social implications for rural communities in the two provinces if farms falter and if farming ceases to be viable. And it looks at the growth of farmers’ markets and other new forms of farmer-consumer relations developing outside the normal retail sector. The report is so comprehensive and far-reaching in its scope that it has the potential to become a blueprint for the future of agriculture in the region.

 

Full Report (PDF, 2.4 MB)

The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC) gratefully acknowledges GPI Atlantic for permission to publish this article on our website.

 

Posted March 2009