PEI ADAPT Council Agri-Newsletter

In This Issue:

PEI ADAPT AGM/Conference, ‘The Future Face of Island Agriculture,’ March 7-8, 2012

What Will PEI Look like in 2030?

New Book: ‘Food, ...an insightful and engaging, introduction to the global food economy.’

Farming Luring More Young People

PEI ADAPT AGM & Conference‘The Future Face of Island Agriculture’ March 7-8, 2012

Farm Centre, 420 University Avenue, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

With Guests;     Dr. Av Singh, AgraPoint,

                            Lucia Stephen, ACORN, ‘Grow a Farmer Project,’

                            Monique McTiernan, Executive Director Atlantic Agriculture Leadership Program

                            Jennifer Waugh-Campbell, PEI Young Farmer and others

                            plus the Atlantic premier of, ‘Grow’     (Winner BEST DOCUMENTARY – 2011 Rome International Film Festival; Official Selection – 2011

                            Slow Motion Food Film Fest Nova Scotia; Official Selection – 2012 Macon Film Festival)

Watch for further details or contact: phil@peiadapt.com

What Will PEI Look like in 2030?

‘Scenario Planning,’ specialists Juliet Fox and David Beurle (Future IQ Partners Inc.) are firm believers that Prince Edward Island already has all the elements needed to develop a province that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable for the long term.

The PEI Federation of Agriculture, with assistance from the PEI ADAPT Council, received funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) to bring Future IQ Partners to PEI to conduct a ‘Scenario Planning’ workshop. Since 1999, the ADAPT Council has invested over $1 million/year, to enhance the vision of an innovative, sustainable and competitive industry on Prince Edward Island. According to the Council’s chair, Elmer MacDonald, the scenario planning workshop is another example of how PEI ADAPT works to assist the agriculture and agri-food industry develop value chains beyond the traditional sector and support innovative ways of doing business.

Scenario Planning is a process that determine plausible future outcomes based upon known research and trends that are occurring today. The workshops help industry sectors, companies and/or communities assess where they are headed and where they want to be in the near and long-term future. The workshop brought together 100 Islanders from a wide spectrum of Island life. It was the first step in what is now a developing value chain of Islanders who plan to create and implement programs and approaches that will make a lasting difference in reintegrating Island agriculture and agri-food as a vital component of the social, cultural and economic elements of Prince Edward Island’s future.

The diversity of the group didn’t happen by accident, said Beurle. In addition to public announcements, an invitation list intentionally targeted people from all walks of the Island’s professional, economic, social, and academic spectrum. "If a community is to develop and implement a shared vision, it has to be a grass roots exercise," he said.

Since much of the workshop involved working in small groups, a deliberate attempt was made bring together people from different viewpoints. "It may be the first time many of these people had an opportunity to talk to each other directly. And now that the conversation has begun, it will hopefully continue as they work towards that future vision."

Elmer MacDonald, Chair of the PEI ADAPT Council and a workshop participant, said PEI has a unique identity and culture and "lots of smart, thoughtful people." He was thrilled with the outcome of the session, and the incredible amount of excitement that was generated among participants about the future of their Island.

One of the tools used to break the ice and get participants thinking about planning is what Beurle and Fox call the "The Futures Game." Using an imaginary locale, participants are able to choose from a variety of scenarios that lead to a future. Future IQ Partners has several versions of the game, but the one used for the Prince Edward Island session was Ireland, since that island country faces many of the same issues as PEI.

The participants, divided into 20 different groups and identified a number of options for possible future development. The game then followed a variety of tracts showing the impact those decisions would have on their communities.

Juliet Fox and David Beurle visited the province several times prior to the Scenario Planning session working with the Island steering committee. While the event was sponsored by two agricultural organizations, she said committee members recognized early that the scope of the discussion would have to go beyond the realm of the Island’s number one industry.

Fox, who was also thrilled at the outcome of the workshop, said there are "so many possibilities" for the next step in the process. She and her partner have written a report of the session including some possible next steps that arose out of the event.

Beurle said global shifts are creating a new reality. "You have to determine how you deal with the big forces of change. The solutions exemplified in the report are ‘made in PEI’, we are simply providing the context of the conversation—the answers are up to you. And those solutions must be measured against a "triple bottom line" for their economic, social and environmental impacts," he said.

A committee of participants has been formed and is meeting to examine the Future IQ Partners’ report, and determine next steps. Anyone interested in learning more about Scenario Planning or who would like to participate in future events, can email to: scenarioppei@gmail.com.

"This excellent book explains why food has become a hot political issue on the global stage.

The author clearly knows her subject and offers an insightful, engaging, and highly accessible introduction to the global food economy."

Food is one of the most basic resources that humans need for daily survival. Forty percent of the world’s population gains a livelihood from agriculture and we all consume food. Yet control over this fundamental resource is concentrated in relatively few hands. The 2008 food price crisis illustrated both the volatility and vulnerability built into the current global food system; at the height of the crisis, the number of hungry people on the planet climbed to over 1 billion. At the same time, there are serious ecological consequences that stem from an increasingly industrial model of agriculture that has spread worldwide.

This book aims to contribute to a fuller understanding of the forces that influence and shape the current global food system. Author Jennifer Clapp explores how corporate control, inequitable international agricultural trade rules, and the financialization of farm commodities have each had a fundamental influence on the practices that dominate today’s global food system. By contrast, farmers and consumers, particularly in the developing world, have had little voice to change the rules of the game. But movements are emerging to challenge the dominant global system. The extent to which these alternative movements can displace it, however, remains to be seen.

Here is a link where copies can be ordered: http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745649351

By DINESH RAMDE 12/21/11 dramde@ap.org; Huffingtton Post

MILWAUKEE -- A Wisconsin factory worker worried about layoffs became a dairy farmer. An employee at a Minnesota nonprofit found an escape from her cubicle by buying a vegetable farm. A nuclear engineer tired of office bureaucracy decided to get into cattle ranching in Texas.

While fresh demographic information on U.S. farmers won't be available until after the next agricultural census is done next year, there are signs more people in their 20s and 30s are going into farming: Enrollment in university agriculture programs has increased, as has interest in farmer-training programs.

Young people are turning up at farmers markets and are blogging, tweeting and promoting their agricultural endeavors through other social media.

The young entrepreneurs typically cite two reasons for going into farming: Many find the corporate world stifling and see no point in sticking it out when there's little job security; and demand for locally grown and organic foods has been strong enough that even in the downturn they feel confident they can sell their products.

Laura Frerichs, 31, of Hutchinson, Minn., discovered her passion for farming about a year after she graduated from college with an anthropology degree. She planned to work in economic development in Latin America and thought she ought to get some experience working on a farm.

She did stints on five farms, mostly vegetable farms, and fell in love with the work. Frerichs and her husband now have their own organic farm, and while she doesn't expect it to make them rich, she's confident they'll be able to earn a living.

"There's just this growing consciousness around locally grown foods, around organic foods," she said. "Where we are in the Twin Cities there's been great demand for that."

Farming is inherently risky: Drought, flooding, wind and other weather extremes can all destroy a year's work. And with farmland averaging $2,140 per acre across the U.S. but two to four times that much in the Midwest and California, the start-up costs can be daunting.

Still, agriculture fared better than many parts of the economy during the recession, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts record profits for farmers as a whole this year.

"People are looking at farm income, especially the increase in asset values, and seeing a really positive story about our economy," said USDA senior economist Mary Clare Ahearn, citing preliminary statistics. "Young people are viewing agriculture as a great opportunity and saying they want to be a part of it."

That's welcome news to the government. More than 60 percent of farmers are over the age of 55, and without young farmers to replace them when they retire the nation's food supply would depend on fewer and fewer people.

"We'd be vulnerable to local economic disruptions, tariffs, attacks on the food supply, really, any disaster you can think of," said Poppy Davis, who coordinates the USDA's programs for beginning farmers and ranchers.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has called for 100,000 new farmers within the next few years, and Congress has responded with proposals that would provide young farmers with improved access to USDA support and loan programs.

One beginning farmer is Gabrielle Rojas, 34, from the central Wisconsin town of Hewitt. As a rebellious teen all she wanted to do was leave her family's farm and find a career that didn't involve cows. But she changed her mind after spending years in dead-end jobs in a factory and restaurant.

"In those jobs I'm just a number, just a time-clock number," Rojas said. "But now I'm doing what I love to do. If I'm having a rough day or I'm a little sad because the sun's not shining or my tractor's broken, I can always go out and be by the cattle. That always makes me feel better."

Rojas got help in changing careers from an apprenticeship program paid for by the USDA, which began giving money in 2009 to universities and nonprofit groups that help train beginning farmers. The grants helped train about 5,000 people the first year. This year, the USDA estimates more than twice as many benefited.

One of the groups that received a grant is Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, or MOSES. The Spring Valley, Wis., chapter teaches farming entrepreneurs how to cope with price swings and what to do in cases of catastrophic weather.

MOSES also organizes field days, where would-be farmers tour the operations of successful farms to learn and share tips. Attendance is up 20 percent this year, director Faye Jones said, and some outings that used to attract 30 or 40 people have drawn as many as 100, most between the ages of 18 and 30.

"I think for many people, farming has been a lifelong dream, and now the timing is right," she said. Among the reasons she cited: the lifestyle, working in the fresh air and being one's own boss.

If farming is beginning to sound like an appealing career, there are downsides. The work involves tough physical labor, and vacations create problems when there are crops to be harvested and cows to be milked.

In addition, many farmers need second jobs to get health insurance or make ends meet. As the USDA notes, three-fifths of farms have sales of less than $10,000 a year, although some may be growing fruit trees or other crops that take a few years to develop.

None of those factors dissuaded 27-year-old Paul Mews. He left a high-paying job as a nuclear engineer last year to become a cattle rancher in Menard, Texas. His wife's family has been ranching for generations, and Mews decided he'd much rather join his in-laws and be his own boss than continue shuffling paperwork at the plant.

"When you're self-employed it's so much more fulfilling. You get paid what you're worth," he said. "It's really nice that what you put into it is what you're going to get back out."