July 31, 2023
Dear Shareholders,
FarmWorks’ Clients continue to work extraordinarily hard to support their businesses and their communities but some of them are having to work even harder and longer hours, often with less help, to achieve their usual positive outcomes.
No doubt you've heard about some of the challenges being faced by NS producers. I've been in touch with many of our clients and with other providers as well, and the Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia (FMNS) email this week echoed what I'm hearing. It's not just the weather - drought followed by rain followed by bugs - it's the challenges due to low sales and high input costs and finding workers. FMNS indicated that local producers' share of food sales has fallen below the often quoted 15% and a newspaper article about the Tantramar rail and road link said that more than 90% of our food is imported.
You may have heard me say that in the 1960s about 60% of our food was produced here. You may also have heard me discuss the health, community, economic and environmental benefits of sustainably produced local food. The benefits of consumption of local food and beverages include inspiring production of more fresh and lightly processed food that’s nutritious and has been grown by people who care what you eat; consumer dollars multiplying within the province; producers able to provide for their workers and their own families; connections between producers and eaters; resilient communities; decreased food miles and the security of knowing that an increasing amount of food is being produced in Nova Scotia.
Local food picked at its peak of freshness contributes to good health, and as a long-time medical researcher and one-time Capital Health Director I'm aware of the tremendous cost of poor health to individuals and the economy. I'm aware that the price of highly processed food often undercuts the benefits of the nutritional quality of local food.
FarmWorks’ Interim Financial Statements show that year over year income has increased, and expenses have increased because we have the good fortune to have Nadia Gerrits as our first full-time employee. Total assets have increased due to the successful twelfth offer and annual after-tax profit and no losses have been stated during this period. The Directors are taking every opportunity to work with clients to ensure their success, and we ask for your assistance to encourage people to look for local when possible!
We are looking forward to aggregating the responses to the 2023 FarmWorks Survey being conducted by our Clean Foundation of Nova Scotia sponsored summer employee.
Separately we’ve linked a recent article HOW TAX CREDITS AND SOCIAL FINANCE ARE BUILDING A HEALTHY FUTURE FOR NOVA SCOTIANS which was recently published in Future of Good Magazine.
This year is causing much reflection among those of us involved with food and beverage production. Locally and globally, events and indicators are concerning and FarmWorks Directors continue to do everything in our power to achieve better outcomes for all Nova Scotians.
We sincerely hope all is well with all of you, and please get in touch with any comments and suggestions.
Sincerely,
Linda, on behalf of the Directors