The need for a formal program that links new and existing farmers was raised when members met before Christmas to discuss priorities needs and direction for the organization in 2018.

They’ve asked the DFM board to place organizing a formal program high on its to-do list for 2018, said DFM spokesman Phil Veldhuis.

Informal mentoring is already happening to a certain extent but not all members have access to those opportunities and their members say they also want more than informal arrangements.

“We need to take that informal success and make it more accessible to people,” said Veldhuis. “Clearly it isn’t something that everyone is benefiting from.”

DFM’s membership, which hovers around 150 at this time, is looking for places to learn more about all aspects of running farm businesses from production to marketing, he said.

“Few people have all those abilities and skills right from the start,” he said.

Starting such a program could be a significant undertaking, he added.

Until members raised the need this wasn’t something the board had spent much time thinking about so this may take some time and effort.

They’ll look at what else is already offered in Manitoba including the Young Farmer program offered through Keystone Agricultural producers and a newer program that began last fall in University of Manitoba’s faculty of agricultural and food science department, pairing female students with female professionals.

“There’s stuff happening out there. We don’t want to replicate that but to collaborate with what’s already happening.”

Another shorter-lived farm mentorship program supported through the Organic Food Council of Manitoba started up in 2009, pairing new entrants with existing farmers for some knowledge and skills transfer.

That program also offered a ‘land link’ opportunity where landowners with parcels of land were matched with those looking for some land to get started.

There was significant uptake for the opportunities the program supported but it ended in 2012 due to lack of operating funds, carrying on informally after that.

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The new program is designed to serve niche markets in the province with fresh Manitoba-raised chicken year round. This is done through a specialty quota that is distributed each year to qualifying farms wanting to raise more than 999 birds – the current provincial quota exemption limit.

Farmers in the room that day voiced concern over lack of consultation, and the impacts of the program for their farms and the wider local food system.

The new quota program will replace an existing exemption permit program upon which several farmers rely. These exemption permit holders are responsible for much of the locally raised chicken available in specialty grocers, farmers’ markets, and restaurants in Manitoba.

The new program would require them to lower the number of chickens raised each year, or pay a penalty on the overage.

For Rudy Reimer, whose family has direct marketed chickens for two generations, this change accounts for a significant portion of his flock, “Under this new program we will be cut back by about 70 per cent from our previous exemption level.”

The cutback is especially frustrating because these farmers already struggle to keep up with demand from grocers, restaurateurs, and individuals eager to purchase their chicken.

Quota is allocated on a provincial basis under the national supply management program, designed to stabilize prices for both farmers and eaters by managing production based on market demand. Supply management keeps farmers – instead of large agribusinesses such as Tyson or Cargill – in control of chicken, dairy, eggs and turkey in Canada.

Chicken – along with dairy, eggs, and turkey – are all foods produced under supply management.

Over the years, however, conventional chicken quota has become extremely difficult to access for new entrants. Quota is awarded to new entrant applicants by lottery, and although quota is issued for free, successful applicants must have the capacity to raise over 200,000 kilos of chicken year round – a size much too large for the average specialty quota holder.

As a result, supply management has become a system accessible only to a few large farmers.

Through quota exemption, smaller farms can raise up to 999 birds outside of the quota system. Over the last few decades however, interest has been revived in production methods and breeds not suitable for the conventional supply-managed system.

As a result of this food renaissance, many new and small farmers are eager to make their livelihood partnering with eaters in the creation of local food systems, but the constraint of quota exemption levels determined by supply management makes it difficult to meet demand and make a living.

Thus, farmers need solutions that reflect the reality of their operations.

One farmer at the meeting in St. Norbert was concerned that requiring farmers to own land and buildings would leave his children – who rent his land and buildings – ineligible for the new program.

Indeed, the capital investment required for quota allocated yearly makes it difficult for any young or new farmer to access. Like any growing business, farmers who raise speciality chickens need multi-year plans to ensure they have the tools to succeed.

Others pointed out that raising chickens on pasture – a method increasingly desired by farmers and eaters – doesn’t require the use of buildings at all.

The disconnect between the new program and the current reality of producers had many farmers questioning the program design consultation process. Hiltz stated that input was gathered from 85 producers along with two small-scale food groups. However, none of the farmers present at the meeting were consulted, and members of both groups reported inadequate consultation or no consultation at all.

The Manitoba Chicken Producers also failed to consult with Direct Farm Manitoba, the newly formed group responsible for representing the interests of small and direct-market farmers.

“Direct Farm Manitoba worked to bring potential producers to hear MCP describe its program and how it might fit smaller producers,” said Phil Veldhuis, president of Direct Farm Manitoba. “I think most producers were pretty frustrated.”

The Manitoba Chicken Producers needs to return to the drawing board, engage in meaningful consultation and develop a program that allows for the food system that Manitobans deserve.

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Phil Veldhuis is spokesman for Direct Farm Manitoba, a group organized this spring to promote an improved policy environment for direct-to-consumer farm business. They sat down last week with Ralph Eichler to introduce themselves and initiate first discussions.

“It was a positive meeting,” Veldhuis said.

The group formed after voting delegates with the now-former Farmers Market Association of Manitoba agreed to bylaw changes to include a wider membership.

They’ve had many issues brought to their attention since formation, mainly related to policy hurdles around selling farm product, Veldhuis said.

This first meeting allowed them to begin talking about these matters “in a general way,” Veldhuis said.

“We will meet again at both the ministerial level and lower levels, and we hope to get more specific next time around.”

The minister told them his government is committed to reducing red tape for small business, and wants to take a consultative approach with all commodity organizations, he added.

Direct Farm Manitoba, whose membership presently includes the 40 farmers’ markets plus those signing on as individuals, has plenty they want to talk about.

Needed voice

Until now, farms selling direct to consumer have been unrepresented, and need for an organization to go to bat, for this emerging sector was emerging even at the time of the release of a 2015 report called Advancing the small scale, local food sector in Manitoba, authored by retired chief veterinarian officer Wayne Lees.

The 65-page report included 21 recommendations for fostering a better working environment for both new and existing participants in the smaller-scale farm movement. It also recommended the formation of a formal organization to represent and work with government to tackle some of the thornier issues around the regulatory and policy environment for these types of farms.

That report also called for improved and much clearer communication of regulatory requirements for food business startups, and they raised that need at last week’s meeting again, Veldhuis said.

“There’s a need for plain language guides,” he said, adding they were told last week the province is working on this.

They also raised the issue of where farms might find a new niche within the quota system in supply-managed production. Direct marketers of farm products such as eggs and poultry are saying they need to be able to produce and sell larger volumes of their products than exemptions allow, Veldhuis said.

“We’ve asked to be part of that discussion. They seemed open to that,” he said.

Strategic planning

Direct Farm Manitoba meanwhile continues to get its feet under it but could eventually represent substantial numbers of smaller-scale producers in the province.

It hopes to eventually merge with another organization, Small Farms Manitoba, which has an established membership listed in an online directory, and represents farms neither part of traditional commodity groups, selling to marketing boards and focused on direct marketing the majority of their sales.

Direct Farm Manitoba has done strategic planning with Manitoba Agriculture staff this summer, Veldhuis said. They will be taking a lead role in the organization of the 2017 Direct Farm Marketing Conference.

They’ve shortened their name, which was initially Direct Farm Marketing Association of Manitoba, he added.

Presently, the Farmers Market Association of Manitoba website remains the contact point to reach the organization.

The post Direct Farm Manitoba wants more marketing freedom for farm products appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Voting delegates of the former FMAM, organized in 2007, agreed last week to change its name to Direct Farm Marketing Association of Manitoba Co-op Inc. so it can represent the broader interests of all those who sell direct to the public.

They also gave the nod to bylaw changes that now allow the new DFMA to offer individual memberships.

The decision comes after nearly two years of discussion over how to best represent the interests of this burgeoning sector of the farm community.

“We’ve been chugging along as a little blue train trying to get over a hill for a very, very long time,” said Phil Veldhuis, who chaired FMAM’s final annual meeting March 11.

Only voting delegates representing St. Malo, St. Norbert, Carman and Oak Lake of the 39 member markets of the FMAM were present for the vote, but nearly every seat in the Ambassador E room of the Portage la Prairie Canad Inn was filled by those interested to hear their decision.

The 2015 report “Advancing the Small-Scale, Local Food Sector In Manitoba,” authored by retired chief provincial veterinarian Dr. Wayne Lees, recommended a unifying organization be formed to represent the interests of direct marketers.

“What we’ve achieved is we’ve now transitioned the farmers’ market association to that broader mandate,” said Veldhuis.

There will be two membership categories of DFMA, which is now classified as a multi-stakeholder marketing co-operative. One is for “grouped direct farmer marketers,” meaning a farmers’ market or other such group organized to direct market and operating within Manitoba. The other membership category is for individual direct marketers. Membership fees for both classes of membership are $50.

A proposed third category, defined as “support group,” to give non-producers voting membership in the new DFMA, was rejected.

Having that type of membership would confuse their new organization’s identity and make it vulnerable to non-producer influence, said Bruce Berry, a delegate from St. Norbert.

“It would give power to we don’t know who,” he said. “We’ve all been working to create a producer organization. We don’t want this complicated by votes from non-producers.”

Seven persons including Phil Veldhuis, Leanne Fenez, Brad Anderson, Stefan Regnier, Bruce Berry, Rudy Reimer and Chuck Leibert were nominated to serve on the new DFMA’s board of directors.

DFMA must now engage with policy-makers around the needs and interests of direct farmer marketers as they relate to matters such as regulation, said Veldhuis.

“Our work going forward is to participate in stakeholder conversations on ag policy to advance the interests where they’re shared among the type of producers who want to join our group,” he said.

He’s optimistic there will be many members come forward to join the new entity.

There were 80 registrants attending both days of the March 11-12 Direct Farm Marketing Conference last weekend.

“This discussion filled the room today,” he said at the close of last week’s meeting.

“We hope that will be the trend going forward and that by including more people we’ll have more energy for this. I think the rest will take care of itself.”

The post Direct farm marketers are forming a new association appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

About 50 people met last fall for a day-long meeting and consultation on how to create a more formalized group.

“What we’re looking at is to see whether it’s feasible to build FMAM up into this larger mandate,” said Phil Veldhuis, president of the FMAM, adding it would mean bylaw changes for FMAM and “putting a ‘d’ for direct” in their name.

Currently FMAM’s membership is restricted to member markets and has a current membership of over 40.

The need for an organization to represent those forging direct-to-consumer links was identified in a report Advancing the small-scale, local food sector in Manitoba authored by retired chief provincial veterinarian Dr. Wayne Lees and released early last year. Among its recommendations for strengthening this emerging farm sector, the report called for the creation of an umbrella organization or “unifying organizational structure” to help these kinds of producers and processors engage policy-makers.

There was strong support to form an organization expressed at the November meeting, Veldhuis said. “About 50 interested people came out and we went through quite a bit of discussion about what people are looking for.”

There was less clarity about what to create so to give the thing legs, about 20 also volunteered to help forge a new group. That steering committee met again last week.

That’s where discussions about switching up FMAM to represent direct marketers generally began, Veldhuis said. There could potentially be anywhere from 100 to 200 or more potential members, he added.

FMAM incorporated in 2007 to foster a vibrant farmers’ market scene by advocating for an improved policy environment, and offering supports like group insurance and access to training for startup markets.

It now represent over 40 markets across the province, but the organization has also floundered with volunteers struggling to keep it afloat since a small grant to employ an executive director ran out.

FMAM’s struggles

Veldhuis said FMAM has talked about expanding membership to revamp its purpose. It will ultimately be up to FMAM’s current member delegates to decide at their annual meeting in March if they want to go in this new direction, he said.

Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier, who has participated in all discussions, said he thinks it’s great to see a new farm organization forming because it will ultimately help to expand the farm community.

“These are beginning producers,” he said.

This will be a new organization with a vision and a mission to support farmers that direct market in Manitoba, he added. It won’t be an organization for the small farmer per se, because small is indefinable.

“The common link between them is direct marketing, not small,” he said.

The working group that worked with Lees to prepare the report struggled with what defines “small” on the farm scene, and concluded that small cannot be arbitrarily defined by any number of acres or employees, instead characterizing those in this emerging sector as innovative and entrepreneurial and focused on forging close marketing relationships with consumers.

The post New farm organization for direct marketers proposed appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

When apiary owners Cherie and Art Andrews were first eyeing prospects to start making mead (honey wine), the province gave them several kick-starts, not the least of which was assisting with expenses for trips to Quebec and B.C. to learn how others did it.

That trip for prospective fruit wine makers gave them the information and the inspiration they needed to start Chinook Arch Meadery, which now annually sells thousands of bottles of honey mead and other honey products.

“That trip was huge for us,” Cherie Andrews says. “We saw some really good examples of on-farm value added aimed at honey and bees.”

It wasn’t the only thing that bolstered their business. In the early 2000s, the province was pushing for more value-added production in agriculture, giving entrepreneurs like the Andrews access to multiple resources including workshops on sales and marketing and regulatory matters. They joined the Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association and benefited from positive relations with Travel Alberta as well, she said.

“We’ve had a lot of support,” says Andrews.

Other things worked in their favour. Once up and producing mead, they were able to begin selling not only direct off the farm but in farmers’ markets, thanks to the licensing protocols worked out between Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

Those farmers’ market sales were key to their startup, says Andrews, adding it allowed them to slowly grow a market while introducing a product that relatively few had heard of.

“Mead is definitely a very unique item,” she said. “It’s something you have to educate people about.”

‘Certified’ markets in Alberta

Sales of alcoholic beverages are just one of the unique features of Alberta’s system of farmers’ markets which since the early 1970s can opt for certification which allows vendors to sell a broader range of products than would ordinarily be permitted. Sales of fruit wines or any other alcoholic beverage are only permitted in these certified farmers’ markets. That causes some complaints in Alberta, but it’s a far cry from other jurisdictions where you can’t sell it at all.

Department of Agriculture and Department of Health worked together on food regulation to ensure that a broader range of “lower-risk” foods and beverages could be sold in certified markets, explains Eileen Kotowich, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s farmers’ market specialist.

“To the best of my knowledge we are the only jurisdiction in Canada that has this privilege,” she said. “Other places allow low-risk foods to be made at home but typically high-risk foods need to be done in permitted facilities.”

It came about as a result of “an amazing” relationship that developed between the two government departments, Kotowich added.

This, and other resources, including free online ‘know your regulations’ newsletters available to direct marketers here, all contribute to an enviable climate for small-scale processing of food and beverage businesses.

In Manitoba you cannot sell any alcoholic beverage at any farmers’ market, and without the same “approved markets” system here, most market vendors are required or at least strongly urged to process in kitchens with inspectors’ stamps of approval.

More support needed

The chair of Manitoba’s grassroots farmers’ markets association says while he’s not fully aware of how things work elsewhere, direct marketers in Manitoba definitely need a more supportive policy environment and more resources.

Still, things are improving, says Phil Veldhuis, noting that while no farmers’ market specialist has been assigned here, two staff within the Department of Agriculture are now tasked with working with smaller-scale processors and farmers, helping them to navigate the regulatory environment and steer them to business development resources.

Veldhuis says he recalls when even farmers’ markets were frowned on, and Manitoba’s Department of Health had a hard time getting its head around sales of any type of food at outdoor markets.

“It was considered somewhat ambitious to have temporary food markets at all when we started this back in the late 1980s,” says Veldhuis.

The post For direct-farm marketers, Alberta is a great place to operate appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Last week he and other MAFRD officials were at the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market to introduce the two business development specialists being reassigned in the department to work with these businesses.

The minister also repeated his pledge to implement the other recommendations in the 65-page Advancing the small scale, local food sector in Manitoba — a path forward.

The report was released in January and followed a year of consultations by a task force Kostyshyn assembled last spring, prompted by growing concern among small farmers and processors over regulatory compliance and enforcement issues.

Kostyshyn said last week he remains committed to seeing the report’s findings enacted because the sector holds so much potential for business development and an expanded food-processing sector.

“We realize the importance of locally grown food and processed food and opportunity for business to develop,” he said.

The report called for the creation of two positions within the MAFRD department to work solely with small farmers and processors. Business development specialists Jeff Eastman and Jayne Kjaldgaard are the two MAFRD staff now assigned to the roles.

Phil Veldhuis, chair of the Farmers Market Association of Manitoba (FMAM) and also a member of the task force said he’s also confident the government is sincere. Members of the task force recently met with Kostyshyn and other MAFRD officials to discuss how the province plans to move forward.

“I’ve learned that you can always tell fairly quickly after you’ve been to a minister’s office whether or not they’re really behind you,” Veldhuis said. “You either kind of get a ‘we’re working on it’ or you get action and commitment to action. They’re committed to doing the work,” he said.

Cypress River-area chicken producer Brad Anderson also attended the minister’s meeting and felt upbeat about what he heard.

“I’m looking forward to the next couple of months to see what rolls out. We’ll see what happens, but I feel good about it,” said Anderson, a member of a farmer direct-marketing group called the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative that was told their off-farm chicken sales contravened regulations last spring.

The province is now developing online resources focused on business development and food safety for the startup processor, and has posted on the MAFRD website a list of permitted community kitchens to rent, Kostyshyn said.

A new manual for food-processing entrepreneurs on the steps to starting a business is also expected to be released this fall.

Dr. Wayne Lees, who facilitated the task force, said the province needs to act quickly.

“The small-scale food-growing and -processing industry is expanding and it’s important, if we’re going to deal with these small-scale producers and processors, that we have a framework so that they’re treated fairly and they can realize their business goals.”

One of the things Anderson said he’ll be watching most closely is what comes from discussions beginning between the Manitoba Farm Products Marketing Council and the province’s supply-managed sector to look for options for small farmers to operate.

Options are to be presented to the MAFRD minister by next spring, according to a government press release.

Anderson said that while he’s glad to hear Manitoba Egg Farmers has agreed to triple its non-quota limit of laying hens — from 99 to 300 — he’d like to have seen the limit even higher, to around 500. Discussions around raising quota limit need to include people directly affected, he said last week.

“The important next step is for the marketing boards to sit down with small-scale producers and invent a creative way to include small-scale seasonal production in the quota system,” he said.

The 65-page report included 21 separate recommendations to help foster an improved operating environment for the small-scale producer, including improved extension and technical supports, increased promotion of local food, and revisiting caps on non-quota production for commodities such as eggs, poultry, milk and root crops. Supports for processors additionally include more help navigating what is seen as a regulatory environment geared towards the capacity of much larger-scale businesses.

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