ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – The collapse of the cod fishery has had a silver lining for Newfoundland’s farm sector, says provincial agriculture minister Kevin Aylwards.
He told the summer Canadian Federation of Agriculture board meeting, held in Newfoundland for the first time in its 50 years in Canada, that the limit to the fishery has made provincial politicians take a closer look at the small agriculture sector.
“The industry in our province has a lot of room to grow,” said Aylwards.
By autumn, he is to produce a plan for cabinet discussion on how the province can help farmers expand or get started.
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The Newfoundland minister said there are some obvious areas for growth, including cranberries on the peat lands of the west coast, medicinal herbs and horticultural crops.
He said the province will not support expansion of production that can be done better elsewhere. Newfoundland could not compete with potatoes imported from Prince Edward Island.
“We want to see expansion that makes business sense here.”
However, Aylwards said the province is becoming an enthusiastic convert to the potential for agriculture. It is self-sufficient in milk and eggs but grows just 15 percent of its vegetable needs.
Still, in a later interview, the minister cautioned that the industry begins from a small base.
He recently toured parts of the Prairies after the July agriculture ministers’ meeting in Prince Albert, Sask., and said, “We will never have agriculture like that.”
But he said even a more modest version can have an impact in a small economy like Newfoundland’s. The fishery now employs 30,000 people. The food industry employs 5,000.
He said there are about 700 farms in the province.
“I believe we can double that if we give people the support and offer them a package that includes access to the capital they need,” he said.
The Farm Credit Corporation already has been asked how it can help.
And he said the McCain’s corporation has expressed an interest in processing cranberries and other fruits if the province can encourage development of the thousands of acres of potential agricultural land.
Currently, Newfoundland’s farmgate receipts total $75 million and the value of the food industry has topped $350 million.
The provincial agricultural budget, lumped in with forestry in a provincial natural resources ministry, is close to $7 million.
