Planting ideas for growth on Nova Scotia farms

Growing season at Andy Vermeulen's farm looks very different these days from what it was in 1988.

Back then, Vermeulen Farms Ltd. in Canning, N.S., was focused on growing fresh salad vegetables, which evolved through the years to crops such as asparagus, cucumbers, peppers, squash and zucchini — everything from A to Z, he says with a laugh.

The biggest crop of them all for Vermeulen now, however, is strawberries.

"It's really an exciting time to be in agriculture," the veteran farmer says as he provides a tour of the acre-sized greenhouse. He built it in 2017 following trips to visit family in Holland where he got a glimpse of the future.

The greenhouse, a $1-million investment, provides the kind of certainty a farmer in 1988 could only have dreamed of. For Vermeulen, it also shows what's possible for Nova Scotia's agriculture sector.

Mother plants go into hanging trays in March and blossoms are picked off each week to promote the growth of runners. Eventually, 400,000 plants will be moved from the greenhouse to tunnel houses in a nearby field where berries can be picked for five months.

The result is disease-free plants that produce fruit at a dependable rate and premium quality.

"With the plants that come off here, it's 100 per cent all of the time and they are strong, they are good — we know how much fruit they're going to put out," says Vermeulen.

"Those things are pretty much guaranteed from what we have going here."

As much as a guarantee is possible in agriculture, Nova Scotia's government is looking for more.

In 2019, the provincial Agriculture Department followed New Brunswick's lead and started tracking commodities based on their level of self sufficiency. That's a measure of whether there is enough of a product to meet consumer demand within the province.

Those that rate 100 per cent or better, such as apples, blueberries, chicken and seafood, are deemed to have room for export. Those below 100 per cent are eyed for opportunities to boost their levels through extending growing seasons, for instance.

Nova Scotia's deputy minister of agriculture says a key focus of the approach is regional collaboration.

That means the province isn't going to invest in potatoes, because P.E.I. already produces more than enough for the region, says Loretta Robichaud.

'Good for the province'

Robichaud says this frees up resources to focus on other commodities. And it creates growth beyond the fields.

"If we can really get to buying local and producing our food at home, it's rural economic development," she said in a recent interview.

"It's economic development overall — it's just good for the province."

Vermeulen thinks the growth potential could be significant, but there are things that need to happen to reach that point.

The province desperately needs to get more young people interested in farming, he says.  

"That is something, you know, as an industry we have to overcome. If we're going to grow this into what they're doing in Europe, it's just a matter of opening our minds and seeing what the real opportunity is."

One of the opportunities Vermeulen sees is filling gaps in other regions.

It's common to see fruit in Nova Scotia grocery stories during the winter that comes from places such as Florida. Because it's too hot to grow berries in Florida in the summer, why not return the favour, asks Vermeulen.

"Between raspberries and strawberries and blackberries, once we had the production scope or size, then those markets would open up to us there and it would be tremendous for Nova Scotia," he said.

"I could imagine a 10-fold increase in gross sales, easily."

Not far from Vermeulen's operation, the Rand family knows plenty about tapping into export markets to support farming  and to help sustain a growing buy-local movement.

Andrew Rand's father and grandfather started Randsland Farms 54 years ago.

Although it operated in a traditional sense at first, with a mix of vegetable and livestock farming, by the 1980s Bruce, Andrew's father, saw an opportunity with broccoli. It became the primary product grown and processed at Randsland.

"The marketability of it became evident," said Andrew.

"Within a few years we were one of the major suppliers in the region of broccoli."

Today those little green trees travel from Canning to Quebec, Ontario and the New England states.

During a recent tour of the operation, Bruce walks through a series of buildings that went up in stages as the operation expanded, starting with the largest barn.

"We mainly used it for playing ball hockey the first year," he says.

But it's all work on this day at the site that also includes 14 greenhouses to help produce 500 acres of broccoli, 50 acres of cabbage and a bit of kale.

Produce from the Rands is carried by all major retailer sites in the region. To ensure the operation can function year-round, they also handle processing and packaging for imported produce during their downtime, which ensures restaurants have what they need at all times.

Andrew Rand says that duel approach is vital to sustainability.

The most bang for the operation's buck comes through local business, but having export markets they've developed outside Atlantic Canada means they're in a position to cover the bills through the ups and downs farmers know all too well.

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