Farmers’ Markets of NS director says “a full spectrum approach” is needed for buy local program

  Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia director Justin Cantafio is excited by the recently introduced Nova Scotia Loyal, but that excitement is limited by the current scope of the buy local program.

Announced last month by the province, the Nova Scotia Loyal program will see Sobeys customers receive extra Scene points for one week a month when they buy local products. NSLC will also see a similar program for those who use Air Miles, with special promotions on local products during select periods. Grocers of all kinds can also obtain the Nova Scotia Loyal branding for their storefronts.

The program has been derided by critics of the Tim Houston government, with the opposition calling it “laughably stupid”. The final report on the program revealed the current model to be completely untested. Some are also voicing concerns over giving big box stores a one-up on independent grocers, as well as the selling of aggregated data collected from customers by Scene and Air Miles.

The program also doesn’t meet the standards set by premier Houston himself on the campaign trail in 2021, when he envisioned a buy local program where points could be used for provincial services.

Cantafio says he and FMNS were consulted in the development of Nova Scotia Loyal, even using various farmers’ markets throughout the province as a “testing ground” for the program.

“There [were] a variety of activations and pilots, and testing happening with the province and in our farmers’ markets to gauge things like consumer interest, consumer behaivour, what leads folks to buy local,” says Cantafio. “You know, it’s a tricky situation because in the farmers’ market context is often different than in the grocery store context.”

While not all of his recommendations made it into the program, Cantafio remains positive about the evergreen nature of the project, viewing this as a foundation to build upon with future endeavours.

“We’re excited that Nova Scotia Loyal exists, that it’s being unfurled, that the province is standing behind their word to move forward with programming that will help to increase the amount of local food and local products consumed in the province.”

Those left behind

Economic development minister Susan Corkum-Greek has gone on record stating she hopes to eventually roll in other big box stores to the program, such as Walmart and Costco.

Cantafio, on the other hand, would like to see a more multifaceted approach.

“Obviously, you know, big box stores have their place, but yeah, quite frankly, when less than 15 percent of the food that’s consumed in the province is locally produced, and when you know 28.9 percent of the population experienced food insecurity last year, which is the highest rate in the country, we need to be more mindful and appreciative that we need to be taking a full spectrum approach to buy local.”

Both independent grocers and farmers’ markets were tested according to the final report, yet neither got as direct a benefit from the program budgeted for $6 million than Sobeys, a company currently being investigated for limiting retail grocery competition.

“Getting more people to places where there’s more local makes sense if your objective is to increase local rather than, you know, places that, in my opinion, haven’t done a very good job of stepping up into really playing a key leadership role in local,” says Cantafio. “Yes, there are some local products in big box stores across the province, but why not incentivize people to go to the places where 50 to 100 percent of the products are local?”

According to Cantafio, shoppers at farmers’ markets aren’t just going for local goods, but also the sense of community that comes from buying directly from the source.

“The reward is trust, camaraderie, kinship, community, transparency, accountability, all these things that happen in public markets and farmers’ markets, where folks are engaging directly with producers,” he says.

But almost as important to Cantafio is that many of their producers aren’t able to afford to stock their products in big box stores like Sobeys. While some producers are excited, others are stuck waiting to see what comes next from the program.

“Quite frankly, most of our cooperative producers can’t afford to sell in larger grocery stores,” he explains. “Some of them do, and we celebrate those successes, but most of them, quite frankly, can’t, and that’s just the nature of the situation in our province right now. So we need to make sure that we’re taking a holistic approach to our consumer rewards programs.”

School vouchers

The one area in which Cantafio seems most proud of is Nova Scotia Loyal’s accompanying school voucher program. Announced in June 2024, the program will see students from Grades Primary to 12 receive $10 vouchers that will be usable at their local farmers’ market.

While some vouchers were expected to roll out before the end of the school year, Cantafio says for parents to keep their eyes peeled come September.

“That’s going to be a really cool opportunity to connect folks who might not have engaged in local food systems before, into the power of the farmers’ market,” he says. “Exciting, inclusive, sort of third spaces that are open to the public and that provide folks of all ages with the opportunity to connect with producers.”