Global Courant
Just weeks after being ordered to remove all farm animals from his property in the rural community of Summerford, NL, Frank Brown is picking up even more animals at Gander International Airport: 1,200 chirping chicks singing a high-pitched song and harvesting glances from travelers as they are wheeled out of the airport.
These day-old turkeys, pheasants and hens — cute for now, Brown says — arrived in cargo crates from Ontario and will be sold to residents in nearby communities, where they will live in backyard chicken coops and eventually become meat and egg producers.
“There’s a demand in central Newfoundland, on the coasts, for eggs that we can’t meet,” said Brown, owner of Larissa’s Farm and Hatchery, located in Summerford, a coastal community about 250 miles northwest of St. John’s.
“People want fresh, they want local, and they want stuff they know where it came from — not off a supermarket shelf that’s a month old.”
Brown and a young client treat day-old chickens, turkeys and pheasants for their small farm in Summerford, NL. In most towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is technically not allowed to live on a farm in most cities. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
The problem with Brown’s business plan is that backyard chickens — or anyway — are technically not allowed in most Newfoundland and Labrador cities. But agriculture advocates are pushing the county to change that, citing backyard farming as a solution to the county’s food insecurity problem and a way to avoid municipal problems like the one Brown is currently facing.
Nic Fairbridge, a researcher and agricultural advocate, did an exhaustive overview of provincial and municipal ordinances relating to agriculture in Newfoundland and Labrador. He found that outdated standards – based on the UK’s archaic Pre-Confederation Agriculture Act of 1947 – restrict farmers and hinder efforts to promote food security and food equity.
“The way it’s written in that kind of legal jargon … it ends up blocking every fruit tree, every raised bed and everyone,” Fairbridge said.
While the rules exist, not all communities enforce the restrictions.
Nic Fairbridge, a researcher and advocate for agriculture, said county and municipal regulations governing agriculture in Newfoundland and Labrador are based on archaic rules that predate the province’s entry into the Confederacy. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
“If maybe a person in the community goes too far or if a complaint comes in, they need to act as soon as the council is made aware of the issues,” said Fairbridge. “They are held to enforce those rules.”
He says it’s not uncommon for municipalities across Canada to struggle with the legalities and logistics of people wanting to raise livestock in residential areas.
NL’s food insecurity problem
However, Newfoundland and Labrador have high rates of food insecurity. According to Food First NL, a provincial non-profit organization that focuses on food insecurity, there are several issues that contribute to the problem. The province has the fewest farms in the country and there is a limited supply of produce at any given time due to ferry delays. Also, many communities do not have a standard grocery store.
“We ship most of our food,” Fairbridge said. “Labrador is rural and remote. Newfoundland itself is an island, so we are very dependent on major shipping lanes that are disrupted by things like Snowmageddon or other issues.”
Brown, right, is seen here with his partner, Seane Rowsell. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
As the climate changes, experts predict that Newfoundland and Labrador will experience more extreme weather events that could lead to roadblocks and ferry delays, preventing food from getting to its final destination.
Food First NL notes that just over 13 percent of households in the province are considered food insecure, meaning they don’t have immediate access to adequate food due to financial constraints.
The provincial government has pledged to become more self-reliant when it comes to food, and says it will has achieved its goal of doubling commercial food production in the past five years.
Brown feeds the goats on his property, Larissa’s Farm and Hatchery, which is not in a designated farming area. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
Urgent call for new food planning policies
Fairbridge says current municipal farming laws are counterproductive to the county’s plan to grow more local food.
Fairbridge and agricultural advocates from the Killick Coast Agricultural Advisory Committee recently urged the county to change the Urban and Rural Planning Act.
In a July 18 email to Prime Minister Andrew Furey and various departments, the group wrote that “inconsistent interpretation and enforcement of municipal plans, statutes and financial sanctions are disrupting food production and causing conflict within municipalities.”
Conflict certainly arose in Summerford after orders to remove animals were issued in May this year – protests, the resignation of five councilors and then a by-election that attracted a record 19 people to put their names on the ballot.
Brown addresses Town of Summerford councilors at a June 6 meeting regarding the city ordinances that affect his farm operations. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
At the June 6 city council meeting, Brown attended and spoke about why he is appealing the injunction.
“This is rural Newfoundland. This was really what these communities were built around: fishing and farming,” Brown told the council. He noted that he would not remove the 100 sheep, 10 goats, turkeys, roosters, chickens and rescue donkey from his property.
Summerford City Council declined multiple interview requests, but at that June 6 meeting, Mayor Kevin Barnes put it simply: The current city plan does not allow livestock within the city limits, and writing a new city plan will cost taxpayers.
“We had to do what we had to do. And that’s not to say nothing’s going to change… but we have to go through a process to change the city plan. It’s that simple,” he said.
Chicks for sale
A Summerford council official said there were complaints about odors and stray animals.
But those complaints don’t deter Brown, who says his farm isn’t just a way of life, but a way to produce his own food.
“We get most of what we eat from the water or the land we farm,” he said, allowing them to go to the store only for basic items like flour or salt.
‘I don’t buy meat in the store. I don’t buy eggs. I don’t buy vegetables.’
Some of the 1,200 day-old chicks collected by Brown from Gander International Airport for his small residential farming operation. He also sells them to other locals who want their own birds for eggs and meat. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
Despite the city restrictions, Brown not only adds more animals to his backyard farm, he also sells them to others.
After making the hour-long drive to Summerford in the back of a pickup truck, Brown and the 1,200 chicks proclaim: These chicks are for sale.
Before long, people from Summerford and neighboring communities are lining up outside Brown’s chicken coop, with cardboard boxes riddled with holes, waiting to be filled with chirping chicks.
There’s excitement and talk about the city’s controversy surrounding backyard animals, but buyers don’t seem concerned that municipalities won’t approve of the new additions that will soon be pecking and clucking in their backyards.
‘Guideline’ in the making
In an emailed statement sent to the CBC on Friday, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs said municipalities have the option to classify lands for agricultural use, as well as to allow home gardening where municipalities see fit.
“Councils have the power to establish and amend land use planning rules,” it said.
In a separate emailed statement sent earlier this week, the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture said it supports small-scale farming and efforts to increase food self-sufficiency, and is currently working on a “guideline” to help municipalities develop regulations and statutes around agriculture.
“The document outlines acceptable agricultural production practices, animal husbandry and environmental protection requirements.”
The statement also explains that communities with approved municipal plans have control over development within city limits.
Two of Brown’s goats can be seen behind a fence on the property. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
In communities with “productive farmland” where farming is not common, the ministry said it would work closely with the municipality to encourage the inclusion of agriculture when the municipal plan is renewed.
Brown won’t wait for changes in the law before growing his farm. His chicks sold out, so he says he plans to order more and is even considering buying some cows.
“The only way those animals get out of here is over my dead body,” Brown said.