N.S. farmers’ markets face financial woes following several winter storms

With thousands of dollars in losses accrued due to winter storms at the beginning of 2022, a Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia exec says many are in a ‘dire situation’

CITYnews halifax \ Chris Stoodley

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On top of devastating effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, Nova Scotia farmers’ markets have faced numerous winter storms in 2022 that have caused thousands of dollars in revenue loss.

“January and February, … I don’t know how, but every single winter storm decided to happen on a Friday night into a Saturday morning,” Justin Cantafio said. “We just got hit hard because Saturday is almost always market day.”

Cantafio, who’s the executive director for non-profit cooperative Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia, said the province has more than 50 farmers’ markets, making it the province with the highest number of markets per capita in Canada.

Eleven of those markets in Nova Scotia operate year-round, each of which are non-profit. That means the primary revenue source for those farmers’ markets are table fees.

“When you can’t have a farmers’ market, you can’t have vendors, you can’t have table fees,” Cantafio told The Todd Veinotte Show. “As a result, we’ve got quite a few year-round farmers’ markets, some of the biggest farmers’ markets in the province, that got hit really hard, with losses ranging from $5,000 to over $15,000.”

Collectively, Cantafio said those year-round farmers’ markets across the province have lost nearly $100,000 — and the cooperative doesn’t want to see that number grow in 2022.

In March, Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia asked the province for a one-time emergency stimulus of $100,000, all of which would be split amongst the year-round farmers’ markets to cover accrued losses.

“This is a unique circumstance brought on by a very unfortunate series of storms that all happened at the same time,” Cantafio said. “It’s a small amount of money considering the amount of jobs, economic activity and import replacement and access to local food and goods that our farmers’ markets provide.”

However, the province rejected that funding request, claiming that while it does provide funding for farmers’ markets, damage and storm insurance is a private sector matter that it doesn’t cover.

Still, Cantafio said Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia is going to continue seeking that funding.

“We’re going to keep asking for that funding and keep trying to work with them,” he said. “Hopefully, eventually, they’ll see that this is a savvy investment.

“The province is interested in launching a public-facing marketing and promotions campaign to get Nova Scotians to buy local, and I can’t think of a better place than a farmers’ market to make that happen.”

Cantafio said he’s grateful for the “lots of fantastic funding” the province has provided farmers’ markets with over the years, but this is a unique circumstance.

“Without this funding, it is possible that we could lose a couple [markets],” he said. “There are few that are in really, really dire situation here — this is not a joke.”