‘We used to produce a lot of our own food’
Farmers markets, backyard gardens all part of Cape Bretoners love of local food
Food recalls, harmful chemical pesticides and fresh produce are some of the reasons there’s a growing trend for locally produced food in Cape Breton.
A 2013 economic impact study done by the Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia, with sponsorship from the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, reported that the province has the highest number of farmers’ markets in the country, per capita.
But could this trend grow into a fully food-sovereign Cape Breton?
Food sovereignty is the idea that a region could produce enough affordable, high-quality nutritious food to feed the population around it. Many experts in the field of agriculture feel this is ideal because it can improve food safety and supports the local economy.
“If I could buy it all locally, I would 100 per cent,” said Jill Stapleton, a registered massage therapist who has a backyard garden at her Coxheath home.
“I find it so scary to buy from the grocery store when I don’t know exactly what’s going into the food.”
Stapleton calls herself an independent parent and is the primary caregiver of her 14-year-old son. The quality of the food is so important to Stapleton that she doesn’t mind paying a bit more for local food.
“I try to buy food from the farmers’ market every weekend I can,” the 40-year-old said.
This fear of not knowing “what is in” some food available at big box retailers is part of the reason Stapleton has her backyard garden, which she plans to expand this summer with hopes she can produce enough vegetables to last through next winter.
Heather MacDonald, a married mother of two , ages eight and four, also likes growing her own food for similar reasons.
“I like to know what my food’s been around,” said MacDonald, an elementary school teacher.
“I’d like to know my food wasn’t picked too early to get here or there’s not some weird chemicals on the food from a country that doesn’t have the same regulations that Canada does.”
Both MacDonald and Stapleton said if the price was right and local food was available
all year round they would buy only that.
To get to that point plans would have to be made, according to Jody Nelson, Ecology
Action Centre community co-ordinator for Cape Breton and spokesperson for Island Food Network.
“Until you move toward
strategies and actions, it’s more about envisioning what you want from food in your region and consulting the community on that,” said Nelson,
a graduate of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and owner of LocalMotive Farm in Hunter’s Mountain, Victoria County. “That’s very much about food sovereignty.”
She said there is already a group of people, affiliated with Island Food Network, who are working on creating a food charter for Cape Breton. This would outline what consumers and farmers in the area want.
Even with this charter it would be a “long road” to get to a food-sovereign Cape Breton, something the island was closer to decades ago.
“We used to produce a lot of our own food, historically … We used to be more self-reliant, food got cheaper to buy and we moved on to other things,” Nelson, a single mother of two, told the Post.
“We moved away from it to the extreme. Can we get back there? That’s a big question. I would like to think so.”
In order to get there, Nelson said we would need to “democratize food.”
“We need to have a say in our food supply. We put a lot of trust into our food system that is in place without really questioning what is involved,” she said.