‘Buy Local’ campaign working
Posted Aug 4, 2010 03:42:30 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Select Nova Scotia is a program under the Department of Agriculture that has been operating since 2007. It’s mandate is to help bring Nova Scotia producers and consumers together under a “buy local” banner.
A report released last week by the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and the Ecology Action Center says local farmers are getting a smaller share of the food budget now than they did a decade ago. In 1997, it was 17 percent. That dropped to 13 percent in 2008.
Select Nova Scotia Spokesman Jamie Coughlan says they want to change that. “In order to grow the amount of local food consumed you have to work on supply and demand,” said Coughlan. “Progress is being made,” he adds. “Even just the amount of buzz and discussion that happened with the release of the study is evidence that Nova Scotians are talking about it.”
Coughlan says there are Nova Scotia products on the shelves of grocery stores even if there isn’t a “Made In Nova Scotia” label. “Sometimes they are shipped Atlantic-wide but it is our producers who are shipping those products that are found in stores,” offers Coughlan. “You’re also going to find most of your dairy, eggs and poultry products are from Nova Scotia.”
And he adds consumers are finding other ways to support local producers in places like farmer’s markets. They’ve gone from fifteen markets in 2003 to over 55 today across Nova Scotia today.
