A farmer on the Bonavista Peninsula is raising concerns over the long-distance food supply and the lack of local food production in the province.
Adam Furlong, who operates the small-scale Outport Acres farm in Bloomfield, which services a number of local grocery stores, says much of Newfoundland and Labrador relies on other countries for the majority of its food. This means produce may be travelling thousands of kilometres before it ever hits the shelves.
As all vegetables are living things, they begin to die as soon as they are harvested, meaning if it takes weeks before it even arrives at the store, it has lost a lot of its nutritional value.
He says his farm is growing microgreens, which are a young, highly nutritious version of a crop to try and counteract this, however, this year they’re expanding their operation.
They’ve added two large greenhouses to grow a wider variety of crops like tomatoes, peppers, mature salad greens and baby root vegetables.
He encourages those looking to start or operate small-scale farms to take advantage of Desjardins GoodSpark, a program that awards funding to small businesses that help the community.