Farming in the N.W.T.'s cold climate is not an easy feat, but it could be the answer to fresher and more environmentally friendly food. Commercial farmers share their experiences attempting this daunting task.
Chickens have very defined personalities, it turns out. Whenever Ray Solotki opens the shipping container-turned-coop outside Inuvik’s Community Greenhouse, one of her 22 hens will rush over and flatten itself down, eager to be picked up.
“They’re kind of like little dogs,” says Solotki, town councillor and executive director of the greenhouse. “I’m very attached to them, but I also would eat them. That’s just the reality.”
It was also the original plan for the birds. Last year, with funding from the United Way, Solotki and her team flew up 22 chickens to the hub of the Beaufort Delta. The birds would lay eggs while the sun was shining, provide fertilizer for the greenhouse and then be turned into soup come winter (to be donated to Inuvik’s homeless and warming shelters).
3 Hay River food producers share $400K funding boost
Riverside Growers, Greenwood Gardens and Choice North Farms will each receive between $100,000 and $200,000 under the federal Canadian Agriculture Partnership Fund.
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Posted: Feb 23, 2021 4:41 PM CT | Last Updated: February 23
N.W.T. MP Michael McLeod, along with N.W.T. minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Caroline Wawzonek announced funding of more than $400,000 to three Hay River food producers.(Avery Zingel/CBC)
Three food producers in Hay River, N.W.T., are sharing more than $400,000 in federal and territorial government funding to scale up production.
Riverside Growers, Greenwood Gardens and Choice North Farms will each receive between $100,000 and $200,000 under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership Fund, which aims to strengthen the agricultural and agri-food sector.