The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Elvis Loveless, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture:

Mr. Speaker, our province is enjoying a steady increase in fruit and vegetable self-sufficiency, from 10 per cent to nearly 15 per cent since 2017.

This is great progress – and with farmers growing more food, we need to ensure they have somewhere to store it, and a chance to sell it, not just at harvest time, but all year round.

Mr. Speaker, I recently announced $1.25 million for farmers to build vegetable cold storage facilities to help them increase production, extend marketing periods, improve vegetable quality and – as always – support food self-sufficiency.

Southwestern Newfoundland Farmers Group Ltd. is receiving $750,000 in provincial funding to establish a new vegetable storage and secondary processing facility in Robinsons. I had the pleasure of meeting Louis MacDonald in the Speaker’s own District of Humber-St. George’s on the day first concrete was poured at the new facility. Mr. MacDonald and his partners are doing fantastic work building this sector and creating long-term, year-round jobs in their region.

Also Mr. Speaker, in Labrador, Spruce Meadow Farms near Happy Valley-Goose Bay is receiving nearly $500,000 in provincial and federal funding to build a cold storage and packaging facility. The Member for Lake Melville and the MP for Labrador recently visited the site with farmer Tom Angiers, and clearly saw that a vegetable cold storage facility will be a game-changer for the region.

With this infrastructure in place, Mr. Angiers and local farmers can plant more crops, over-winter more vegetables, use more land, and ensure a local, long-term, sustainable vegetable supply for Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank these farmers for their vision, and I look forward to helping them find more innovative ways to focus on what they do best – growing and producing nutritious, healthy food here at home.

Thank you.