{"id":55957,"date":"2025-06-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=55183"},"modified":"2025-06-13T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:00:00","slug":"eac-report-calls-for-urgent-action-to-help-nova-scotias-struggling-food-and-agriculture-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=55957","title":{"rendered":"EAC: Report calls for urgent action to help Nova Scotia\u2019s struggling food and agriculture systems\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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NOVA SCOTIA:<\/strong> A new report from the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) is calling for urgent and coordinated efforts to address the serious challenges faced by Nova Scotia\u2019s food and agricultural systems. Growing at Home: Nova Scotia Local Food and Agriculture Report<\/em><\/a>\u00a0paints a sobering picture of the sector’s vulnerabilities, while highlighting opportunities for government investment and cross-sectoral collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur food producers are under extreme pressure,\u201d says Vicki Madziak, community food coordinator with the EAC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNova Scotians are ready to support local, but if we want a food system that feeds our communities and withstands shocks like climate change and tariffs, we need serious investment \u2014 in both infrastructure and policy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors estimate that rates of local food consumption in the Province are hovering around 14 per cent \u2013 a figure that has remained largely unchanged for over a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is despite Nova Scotia\u2019s total food expenditures steadily increasing every year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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People are spending more on food but local food is not seeing the same increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most of the data available is before the tariff-related push for local, the report also points to declining farmland, an aging workforce and unstable farm incomes as key concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These concerning trends indicate the need for coordinated strategy and partnership across the food system to support producers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are signs of momentum. N.S. now has the most farmers\u2019 markets per capita in Canada, and public interest in local food remains high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNova Scotia stands at a crossroads,\u201d says Justin Cantafio, executive director of Farmers\u2019 Markets of Nova Scotia and contributor to the report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe data points us toward solutions we know can work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Programs like the Nova Scotia Loyal Voucher Program have shown that when government invests in local food infrastructure and regional resilience, the benefits ripple across our communities, keeping more of our food dollars here at home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madziak adds: \u201cWe have the data, the desire and the tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What we need now is an increased commitment \u2014 across governments and communities \u2014 to build a food system that will put healthy and affordable local food on Nova Scotians\u2019 tables.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[adrotate banner=”237″] [adrotate banner=”105″] NOVA SCOTIA: A new report from the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) is calling for urgent and coordinated efforts to address the serious challenges faced by Nova Scotia\u2019s food and agricultural systems. Growing at Home: Nova Scotia Local Food and Agriculture Report\u00a0paints a sobering picture of the sector’s vulnerabilities, while highlighting opportunities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[957],"tags":[8570,4200,6009,50,48,1077],"class_list":["post-55957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-agriculture-systems","tag-ecology-action-centre","tag-food","tag-halifax","tag-n-s","tag-nova-scotia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}