Losses to frost still being tallied
Millen says most don’t understand the plight of farmers
It’s a month since two severe frosts swept Nova Scotia, and local farmer Curtis Millen is still counting the costs.
His farm near Great Village had 200 acres growing strawberries and another 600 for blueberries, but the June frosts have wiped out up to 70 per cent of his crops. The cold snap hit farms in central Nova Scotia especially hard.
“Some of our land has nothing left,” said Millen. “I’m getting used to this, farmers have more and more problems and the general population doesn’t really understand it, because they’re not farmers and they don’t see or feel what a farmer goes through daily.”
As a result of the frost and low profits over the last two or so years, Millen said he would have to take on more debt to try and carry his business through the current tough times.
As well as blueberries and strawberries, last month’s frost also hit other crops in Colchester County such as grapes, corn, potatoes and anything else that was in bloom.
Millen said agriculture, both in Colchester County and elsewhere, already suffer from a lot of problems.
These include extreme weather events as well as the ongoing threat of trade tariffs on Canadian products.
However, Millen said that he didn’t export crops like strawberries abroad, instead sells them locally to meet demand in Truro and across the region.
“We need sustainable and reliable sources of food in our own country and province. You don’t know how long another country’s going to be your friend,” said Millen.
“We’ve let agriculture slip away so much in Nova Scotia.”
As such, better support for local agriculture remains key to keeping the local community well fed.
He pointed to the example of wartime Holland as a warning about neglecting agriculture. In 1944 the country was occupied by Germany and suffered a famine when the Nazis halted food transports and people soon ran out of food.