Building resilient food systems
The Challenge
The Charlotte County Strategic Food Security report by Vibrant Communities Charlotte County notes that food insecurity is a major issue in our region.
A Solution
Project : Village is designing and building a local food system in Blacks Harbour.
Our short term goals:
To retrofit the former grocery store into a community asset
To continue partnering with local food banks and food service providers to expand storage capacity
To share knowledge about indoor farming and food security with our community.
Our long term goal is to design a local food and sustainability hub in Blacks Harbour. The space will foster research, skills training, and knowledge sharing for innovative farming techniques.
The Indoor Farm.
Our farm serves Charlotte County and surrounding areas with a fresh local option for lettuce, arugula, basil, cilantro, and micro-greens at an affordable price. Growing indoors using allows us to produce food year-round, this will provide our region with a consistent supply of these products and help reduce our reliance on imports.
With the generous support of community partners, stakeholders, and funders, we are excited to start this food security journey together.
Controlled Environment Agriculture : defined as an agricultural operation that uses temperature, air, and/or lighting control methods to grow crops. Our indoor farm uses vertical hydroponic towers that are equipped with LED lights and automatic irrigation.
Where can you buy our products?
This year, we are participating in the Saint Andrews Farmers Market (Thursdays, starting May) and the St. Stephen Farmers Market (Fridays, starting June) to offer our fresh products to the community.
We are looking to expand our reach and form new partnerships to bring our fresh produce closer to our community members. You can sign-up to receive more information about our indoor farm and where we will start to sell soon!
Public Consultations
In 2023, ECW staff conducted 2 public consultation events on our indoor farm and living lab model in Charlotte County. Over 80 attendees participated in an interactive survey that resulted in this report. This report aims to provide the project with local context and the needs of community members in the Charlotte County region. The objectives of the report are to understand consumer preferences, to inform crop selection for the indoor farm initiative and to make the information publicly available.
Here We Grow Again!
In 2023, ECW in partnership with Food for All New Brunswick, hosted a series of food security webinars on topics ranging from food production to preservation to budget friendly options!
On the Blog
