Buy Local Farmer's Products Campaign

NS: New marketing campaign helps people get to know their local farmers
By Chris Shannon, Transcontinental Media

Source: Cape Breton Post, Jul. 28/10

[SYDNEY, NS] – A new marketing campaign by the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture is aimed at introducing consumers to the men and women who produce the food on your local grocery store shelf.

The website, www.meetyourfarmer.ca, was officially launched in Halifax on Tuesday evening with the release of a report, in conjunction with the Ecology Action Centre, which shows Nova Scotians are buying less local foods than they did in 1997. The federation says the website is meant to “create and improve the relationship” between farmers and the consumer.

Beth Densmore, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, says the website has an educational component because many people have no clue where their food comes from. She denies it’s an opportunity to improve the opinion of farmers among people who think the industry is too heavily subsidized by government.

“It’s not to draw on sympathy from the public. It’s the awareness side of it,” Densmore says. “They’re hoping to change (the website) over the coming months, so that (people) understand that farming is not just having sheep, it’s not just having lettuce. It could be all different aspects of it and hopefully put a face to these products.”

So far the website has seven farmer profiles from the Annapolis Valley and Hants County, as well as videos and stories about the farms. It also includes pictures of farm animals that children can print out and colour.

Co-ordinator of the project Wanda Hamilton says more content will be added in the coming months, along with stories from farmers in other parts of the province.