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HAY RIVER
Local farmers and other food producers will soon have access to a commercial kitchen that could help them sell their produce independently or even to supermarkets.

Hay River business owner Rocky Simpson stands by a trailer full of kitchen appliances that will soon be used for programs by the Territorial Farmers Association. The kitchen is intended to teach farmers and gardeners how to preserve and add value to what they grow in order to encourage local food production. - Angele Cano/NNSL photo

The Territorial Farmers Association (TFA) has purchased a used trailer and commercial kitchen equipment with funds secured from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. The trailer is currently being revamped and will soon become a travelling teaching tool for the TFA to deliver educational programming in communities.

The TFA is hoping the programming will encourage local producers by teaching preservation and value-added techniques.

"People are starting to come around that this is not a sustainable (food) system," said TFA executive director Andrew Cassidy. "Hopefully, we'll be able to tool up the community so we are less and less dependent on that system."

Local growers could add value to their salad, for instance, by mixing it with other greens and selling it at farmers' markets. People could also learn the art of pickling and preserving or how to properly freeze or blanch fruits and vegetables.

"Have you ever had pickled squash? Well, it's disgusting," said Cassidy. "But this way we'd be able to teach people that before they try something that won't work and how to preserve because not all food has to be thrown away at the end of the season."

The kitchen will be fully equipped for producers to use if they want to be able to process their products to sell locally, either independently or to grocery stores. But it is hoped the kitchen will also be able to be rented out privately for people to use to learn preservation techniques.

"What a lot of people think when they think of agriculture in Canada is large fields and industrial machinery," said Cassidy. "But we're trying to change that. Even having a garden is agriculture. Optimistically, we're going to have more and more people involved in local food production."

The TFA is working on details like food safety and insurance, but is hoping to hold some inaugural workshops in the summer or by the fall at the latest.

According to Statistics Canada, between 1931 and 2006, the number of farms decreased by 70 per cent, while the total farming area in the country slightly increased.

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