Celebrating the successes of the NFU’s new farm project

Nov 26, 2009

The National Farmer’s Union “New Farm Project” (NFP) held its 2nd Annual Fall Gathering at the Golden Links Hall in Harrowsmith on November 18. Over 100 farmers (and wannabee farmers) from far and wide gathered to share their experience and knowledge, and to celebrate the successes of the NFP's first year.

Though farming is an industry fraught with challenges and a very real and ongoing income crisis, it is simultaneously experiencing a rebirth in these parts, thanks in large part to an increased desire for local produce and to the help that the NFP is now offering to newbie farmers and revisionists.

Facilitated by Wendy Luella Perkins who works as a consultant for the NFP, the Fall Gathering began with an introduction from Diane Dowling, Vice President of NFU local 316 of FL&A. Dowling explained how the NFP came about as a result of the NFU local 316’s growing success in educating consumers on the benefits of buying local food. That success created a need for more local growers and producers. For that reason members of the NFU local 316, Colleen Ross and Kathy Rothermel put together a grant application to Heifer International, a not-for-profit donor organization that promotes self sustenance and reliability in communities and in 2008 the NFU local 316 was granted $250,000 for a new four-year project called the New Farm Project, whose motto is “building farm capacity, building farm community”.

The new project was designed to build and promote a more sustainable local food system in Kingston and its countryside and to enable more people to get involved in farming through education, training and support.

At the gathering, NFP project coordinator Ian Stutt, himself a market gardener for four years summed up the achievements of the NFP in its first year, which included identifying and supporting eight new and four revisionary farmers, establishing a new chapter of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), an internship program that provides practical experience to new farmers. This year the NFP through their CRAFT program hosted a total of 18 interns on 10 different farms, providing the new farmers with practical hands-on training.

Also this year a total of 12 workshops on various topics offered over 80 hours of training to farmers and 21 NFP conference bursaries were given out. An NFP equipment sharing program was also set up whereby farmers can borrow and use farm machinery and tools that they require but do not own themselves such as poultry processing equipment, rototillers, bush hogs and more.

Of the 100 families that the project has set out to assist over four years, 27 have been assisted and of the 100 families expected to receive a “pass on gift “, 18 have received theirs.

The morning began with the stories of 14 individuals who received NFP “gifts”. Each NFP gift recipient described what they received, how they benefited and how they have or intend to “pass on the gift”.

Scott Irving, Gregg Williams, Louise Cooper and Thor Hansgen all worked as craft interns at different farms. Scott received funding to attend a two-day organic agriculture Conference in Guelph. His gift back? He is in the process of putting together an educational presentation for school-aged children on the importance of earthworms.

Thor attended a potato workshop and more recently a seed saving workshop and he intends to share his knowledge on seed saving by offering a future workshop on the subject.

Tibrata Gillies of Milk River Farm in Sunbury received funding to purchase milking equipment and she intends to hold a cheese-making workshop as her gift back.

Dave Perry of Perry Maine-Anjou Farms received funding for a solar fence to expand his pasture and herd. He plans to donate 12 turkeys to local families in need as his gift back. And the stories continued on.

A delicious lunch was sandwiched between two informative panel discussions. The first was titled “Making a Farm Business Succeed Today: Balancing Economics, Ecology and Quality of Life”. Moderated by Brian Burt of Burt’s Greenhouses, the panel of farmers, which included Emily Dowling, John Wise, Oliver Haan and Titia Posthuma, each gave moving and informative accounts of why, how, and what they farm. They summed up its rewards and challenges and provided moving and often comic accounts of their struggles, triumphs as they strive to be sustainable, remain economically viable while not burning themselves out physically. Strong points were made by panelists about the importance of farmers putting the business model before lifestyle, asking consumers to pay the price of production, educating the public, accounting for externalities as well as the importance of direct marketing, and trying to mimic nature to achieve ecological balance.

After lunch, Stacey Corcoran-McLaren moderated a panel discussion concerning Local Food Trends and Marketing Innovations. Panelists included Wendy Banks, whose business distributes locally grown food; Clark Day, a Kingston restaurateur who buys local produce; Pat Dawson of Desert Lake Gardens; and Dave and Kim Perry who own Perry-Maine-Anjou Farm and Local Family Farms in Verona. Each spoke about how they go about running their business and gave advice based on their own experiences.

The day proved to be an informative and fun one with a lot of networking, on other discussions taking place during breaks.

The NFP’s objectives for the upcoming year includes supporting the plans for 10 combined new and revisionary farmers, continuing to offer and implement the CRAFT program to new interns, continuing to offer bursary grants and providing workshops on a number of topics: farm business planning, farm production, marketing and distribution, fence building, seed saving, scything and canning and preserving to name just a few.

Earlier Stutt pointed out the fact that the wording “New Farm” in NFP does not just relate to new farmers but also describes the new type of farm that farmers are building these days. Stutt described this new farm as, “stable and resilient with the capacity to adjust itself to the physical, social, economic environments that present themselves.” Anyone thinking of making the move into farming or making a change in their farming practice is well advised to get connected with the NFP.

For more information on what the NFP has to offer, visit www.nfu.newfarmproject.ca or contact Ian Stutt at 613-767-6037; e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..