From the farm to the table
First Breakfast on the Farm event draws 750 attendees
Islanders got to enjoy a hearty breakfast while also finding out where their food comes from during a new event on Saturday. A free breakfast was complemented with information stations about where the Island’s produce comes from during the inaugural Breakfast on the Farm event in Rustico. The event, which was hosted by Farm and Food Care P.E.I. (FFCPEI), also included a milking station and the chance to meet some dairy cows. “Farming is literally in our backyards but a lot of people still don’t know about farming so it’s nice to open farms up for people to see what farming is all about,” said FFCPEI co-ordinator Santina Beaton. FFCPEI is also new to the Island. It formed in December 2017 through the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture following the success of other farm and food care associations in other provinces. The group is a coalition of farm families, processors, restaurants, retailers, agri-businesses, and other partners working together to tell the story of P.E.I.’s food. “We realized we needed more groups like this,” said Beaton. “It helps enable public trust in P.E.I.’s food and agriculture and just to help educate the public.” All food for the breakfast was supplied by P.E.I. processors such as ADL and Cavendish Farms. Breakfast on the Farn-type events are a major success in Ontario so FFCPEI wanted to replicate that here. Beaton said about 2,000 go to the Ontario events and the farmers who want to participate must apply because it is in such demand. The Island’s event had roughly 750 people attend. “We were prepared to feed 750 but we could have fed more,” said Beaton. Margaret Bradley of Summerside brought her grandchildren, nine-year-old Brooke and fiveyear-old Andrew Bosse, to the event. “They’re the next generation,” she said. “We don’t want the farms to go because we need them on P.E.I.” This year’s event was held at a family-operated dairy barn called Crasdale Farms Inc., which is owned by Brian and Amber Craswell. Beaton said she would like to make the Breakfast on the Farm an annual event going forward. She hopes to make it grow next year. “I’d like to see more people come out to the barns to see how food is grown and being processed and going around to the different commodities,” said Beaton.