The Local Food Security Act bill may have been defeated in the provincial Legislature but the National Farmers Union in New Brunswick is not finished with the matter.
That’s according to President Ted Wiggins who tells us people want to buy local products and they have a hard time identifying them. Wiggins says in some cases consumers are being misled. He’s seen berries brought in from another province in plastic constainers put into little wooden boxes and sold as local product.
Wiggins says the bill would have been an opportunity for farmers, especially small farmers, to get more of their products into the marketplace. He says it’s become difficult to get into large chain stores because they want to buy from a single desk, and small farmers don’t produce enough to cover the whole province.
Wiggins tells us that they will continue pushing until they get something in place that will support local food production, the consumer, and food security.
Some of the purposes of Bill 11 was promote the buying of local food in the province and to support a strong local food economy in New Brunswick. It was put forward by provincial Green Party Leader David Coon.
