Sectors including apple, blueberry, and other food crops will continue to see increased interest in their products from vendors as consumers place safe local products at the top of their list when making purchasing decisions.
A unique certified organic mixed vegetable, flower, herb and livestock farm overlooks the beautiful Baie Sainte-Marie. Wild Rose Farm is the pride and joy of Gilberte (above) and Siegmar Doelle — the most recent recipients of the Nova Scotia Farm Environmental Stewardship Award. — Photo courtesy of Communications Nova Scotia
(Originally published in "Outlook 2014" - January 2014 issue of the Nova Scotia Business Journal)
By Dennis Boudreau, President, Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture
A healthy agriculture sector is important to all Nova Scotians. It generates jobs, grows the economy, and produces healthy, high-quality food and a sustainable environment that benefits everyone.
Our outlook for 2014 and beyond is to continue the success and growth in many sectors of agriculture while closely watching the EU trade negotiations, wildlife and crop insurance issues, and weather and climate change saga (which comes with both challenges and opportunities).
There is much more interest in grain growing over the past few years. Good prices have encouraged farmers to increase farm acreage by returning abandoned land to production. Corn and soybean are the most popular; we are forecasting an increase in the number of acres in production in 2014.
Mink producers have had a good year. Statistics Canada reports that farm receipts have increased 33 per cent from the growth in farm mink numbers and a rise in farm gate sales. As mink farmers continue to improve environmental stewardship and management practices, we hope to see an increase in production in 2014 and the continuation of strong prices.
- Read more special articles:
- Mining - Outlook 2014
- Forestry - Outlook 2014
- Energy - Outlook 2014
- Fisheries - Outlook 2014
Other sectors including apple, blueberry, and other food crops will continue to see increased interest in their products from vendors as consumers place safe local products at the top of their list when making purchasing decisions. We believe this will also create more export opportunities for the agriculture sector.
The continual increased use of technology is always interesting to watch in the agriculture sector. Voluntary milking systems (robotics), advances in GPS technology and coming soon, drones with cameras and sensors for crop scouting, will all make our industry more efficient.
In order to tackle our challenges and make opportunities real, we need the cooperation of all levels of government, we need the support of consumers to buy local products, and we need farmers to continue their innovative thinking and hard work in meeting the demands of today’s agriculture industry.
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