Developing self-sufficiency in Cape Breton food system

A Cape Breton food co-op is looking to further develop food production and distribution within the island. Jim Mustard, Councillor of Inverness County’s District 3 and Food Hub board member, said the pandemic reminded him of the importance of self-sufficiency in our community.  

As a founding member of the Cape Breton Food Hub, Mustard has been interested in local food systems for a long time. Over the past 8 years, the non-profit organization has been providing an online portal where residents and restaurants can order meat, seafood, dairy and produce directly from Cape Breton producers. The Hub also arranges the food’s distribution. 

More recently, Mustard has been interested in helping the region go back to its agricultural roots. “When I first moved here, I was 21 years old,” he said, “and at that time, there were many small farms and it was a relatively food-secure region, Inverness County. So, most people had a mixed farm. They would have animals, vegetables, fruit, flowers. And in the 40 years that I’ve been here, a lot of that, both the knowledge and the practice has gone.” 

Although he started working on the project before the pandemic, he said the way COVID-19 disrupted supply chains got residents thinking about producing food locally. “There are a number of people who are growing gardens now and are looking at food security differently,” he said, “it’s a big conversation. We could have really had a huge uptake of potential production this year, just at that moment, and take that narrative back about who we are and where we came from.”

Right now, the Food Hub is looking for funding - $50 000 to hire someone who can connect the resources already existing in the community. “In discussions with a number of people that I used as an advisory group,” Mustard said, “it came to this idea: it’s not about more equipment, it’s not about more land, it’s about coordinating all other component pieces to allow people who are already there to do more, newcomers to establish and do something, and to use the equipment and the resources that are already in place.”

The project has received $15 000 from organizations so far. Mustard said he will be applying to the new federal Local Food Infrastructure Fund announced this week.

Click here to listen to CHNE's extended interview with Jim Mustard.