'You can taste the difference': Demand for local produce makes Labrador farmers optimistic

Farmers in central Labrador are optimistic about the future.

Attendees taking part in a recent agricultural workshop in Happy Valley-Goose Bay discussed a wide range of topics related to the opportunities and challenges facing agricultural production in the north.

Des Sellars, owner and operator of Nature's Best farm, said the produce market in Labrador is worth well over a million dollarsa huge opportunity for local producers to get into and be competitive.

Over the years though, he admittedit'sbeen a tough sell among local grocery storemanagers.

"You'd go to them, and say, 'I've got this food. I've got this produce available.' The first thing they would say, 'Well, I can get this at this price,' which was a price that was all quoted from a big supplier," Sellars toldCBC'sLabrador Morning.

He said the reality is most of the money spent on produceleaves the region, and the province, as big food suppliers dominate the market.

In Labrador, wholesalers purchase food from distributors outside of the province. It's business, he said, that shouldn't be leaving the province given the current fiscal situation.

Still, Sellars is encouraged to see more locally-grown produce finding its way into grocery stores in Labrador.

[Today] we've got a far more health conscious consumer, and a far more educated consumer.- Des Sellars

Although it's a work in progress, he said grocery store managers are finally changing their attitudes when it comes to buying produce from local farmers.

Sellars believes retailers are catching onto the popularity of community markets, and how a growing number of people want to buy good quality produce from local farmers.

He saiddemand for his carrots and potatoes has doubled this year.

Selling veggies to local grocery stores is an opportunity Jamie-Lee Finlay and her husband, Greg, are looking forward to with their operation, Finlay's Farm.

The couple run a hydroponicgreenhouse and grow field crops having bought a farm on Mud Lake Road in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this year.

"Honestly, it's been overwhelming. The demand for greens as such, everybody loves greens," she said.

"I think it comes with the young generation now. They're just so educated on nutritious foods that everyone wants some of it."

When you have customers come back every week, and they tell you how good it was, it's so rewarding.- Jamie-Lee Finlay

As the local farming newbies, Finlay said she took part in theworkshop to soak up everything she could about farming.

Whether it was listening to a successful farmer from St. John's, or learning about how to protect greenhouses, she saidthe workshop was a good opportunity to learn from knowledgeable farmers like Des Sellars.

Farming since 2009, Sellars remembers what it was like starting out.

He said there are a lot of nuances about crop production relating to pest management, ph levels, food safety, as well as some of the biological, chemical, and physical aspects of farming.

"The day that you think you know it all, is the day that you should probably pack everything in because it is a learning process," he said.

Meanwhile, Finlay saidshe's amazed by the demand for local produce at the farmer's market in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, noting that people are more aware of the importance of eating good food.

She saidpeople don't question her prices at the market, and are very pleased with the quality of vegetables picked only a couple of days before.

"You can taste the difference," she said. "When you have customers come back every week, and they tell you how good it was, it's so rewarding."

Fresh, local produce that isn't shippedfrom long distances may very well give local farmers a competitive edge over suppliers that deal in large quantities brought in from afar.

But Sellars wants to see changes.

This season, he saw a 10-pound bag of carrots, grown in Israel sell for about $5 in a local grocery store, aprice he can't possibly compete with.

He said how those carrots were produced raises a lot of questions, especially when a farmer in North America typically gets less than a third of the retail cost.

Sellars wants to see farmers in Labrador be able to compete with suppliers who deal in large volumes of food on a more level playing field.

He is confident that customers are becoming more aware of how and where their food is grown.

"There was a time when people just probably saw all food as being the same. They'd never give it a second thought. But, we've got a far more health-conscious consumer, and a far more educated consumer."

Sellars said that's a positive sign, allowingLabrador farmers to be taken seriously.

"Still today, most people don't think of Labrador and agriculture in the same sentence."