Media Clipping — Friday August.15th, 2008, CBC News

Farm income hits bottom in P.E.I., N.S.

Farmers in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. are earning less than they have at any time in the last four decades, according to a new study released by GPI Atlantic.

Jennifer Scott, co-author of the report, listed a number of contributing problems related to farm income: a lack of price regulation, international competition and the rising cost of fuel and feed. Scott told CBC News Friday people can help local farmers by asking for locally grown food.

"Not only grocery stores, into hospitals and into university cafeterias, even jails," said Scott.

"If we want a healthy local agricultural system, we need to use our provincial money to buy local products. When it's mandated, when there's a policy that says you have to buy 50 per cent local products, that gives farmers a little bit more of a leg up in terms of negotiating prices."

The report examined farm incomes going back to 1971, and found that farm incomes are down 91 per cent in Nova Scotia and 92 per cent in P.E.I. since then.

Recent years have seen significant trouble. Net farm incomes have been negative in Nova Scotia four of the last six years, and on P.E.I. five of the last seven years.

Low prices are at the centre of the crisis, and while there are a number of causes for depressed prices, the report notes supply-managed sectors such as dairy and poultry are the exception in farming communities that are losing their economic viability.

While incomes are falling, the report notes the economic impact of agriculture has been increasing, with operating expenses up 26 per cent in Nova Scotia and 77 per cent on P.E.I. over the period of the study. Scott said this underlines the importance of agriculture to rural economies, adding drastic measures are required to save farming as it now exists in the two provinces.

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