Provincial governments might need to hire extension officers if they want to protect and build a bustling new market for small farmers.
That’s because recent problems with small-scale, artisanal and local food production highlight the dangers that lie just under the surface for a developing market that relies mostly on trust, faith and belief.
The new generation of local-small-artisanal producers might not be as informed about food safety requirements and regulations as processors focused on the large commercial market.
The Manitoba government recently seized and destroyed meat that had been dried and cured on a small farm, only months after the agriculture department recognized the farm’s prosciutto with an award.
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Critics are outraged, charging the provincial government as high-handed and hypocritical. However, the real problem seems to be the gap that exists between the province’s robust promotion of the local food movement and its rigorous application of food safety requirements.
It’s easy to see how small, untrained would-be food makers could have had trouble developing their specialty product with provincial government encouragement but never quite realizing what they needed to do to ensure their product would be safe.
Food safety experts have told me the process the farm used to produce the meat could have created health dangers.
Commercial-scale food processors, even small locker plant operators, are familiar with food safety rules and understand what inspectors require.
However, the new wave of small farm processors of specialty products are far less sophisticated. They might not “get” what they need to do without someone leading them through it.
It appears some Manitoba Agriculture employees tried to help and worked with them for a couple of years, but there’s probably a need for a handful of dedicated extension officers to work with farmers through the food development and manufacturing process so they don’t slip through the cracks.
It’s hard to find money for extra bodies in already cash-strapped provincial agriculture departments.
However, creating extension officers could be the link in the chain that ties the whole thing together if governments are committed to developing the local farm-to-consumer market and develop on-farm artisanal products.
It’d be an easy market to lose. Food improperly prepared can be lethal, and urban consumers who now embrace local and artisanal food would flee if people started dying from eating it.
The local food market, a key opportunity for small farmers near Western Canada’s cities, can’t handle too many disasters like the death and disease that came out of a British Columbia farm that was making raw milk cheese.
Governments have a chance to jump on a problem, fix it and create the conditions for a market that will offer farmers what they need to build a future different from bulk commodity production.
