Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Hay River (Aug 06/01) - Northwest Territories farmers can forage next year's crops with more know-how, thanks to input from agriculturists from all around the top of the world.

Evellyn Coleman, Executive Director of the Territorial Farmer's Association will travel to Akureyri, Iceland to attend the Circumpolar Agricultural Association's annual conference from Aug. 27-30.

"This year's seminar is Visions and Legacies of Agriculture," Coleman said. "So we'll be taking a presentation about the community greenhouse in Inuvik."

"It's a good example of visions for future farmers especially in smaller communities where they have no access to good farmland and the high cost of fresh produce."

She will also make a poster presentation on farming in the NWT and describe some of the the history of agricultural production here.

Coleman has never been to Iceland, but looks forward to seeing the way product is produced there using geothermal heat sources and other innovations.

"It's a temperate climate and they have lots of hot mud baths that I'm really looking forward to," she laughed. "One of the things that's really intriguing to me, is that they grow and sell lettuce right in the pot, so when you buy lettuce, it's actually still growing."

"I'm very interested in seeing how they do things there."

While this is the first time Coleman has attended the conference, she says the NWT has attended the three previous seminars.

"We have sent people to Norway, Alaska and Whitehorse to the other three, so there has always been someone from the Northwest Territories represented."