So many spuds, so few buyers: Happy Valley-Goose Bay farmer says selling local isn't easy

A potato farmer in Happy Valley-Goose Bay says government money has helped boost his operation, but it's hard to sell his product locally without buy-in from both retailers and consumers.

"It's a hard job and a big investment," said Tom Angiers. "We've been 27 years trying to get this up and running."

Angiers said in previous years, he's had his potatoes stocked in two of the largest grocery stores in town — Northmart and the Terrington Co-op — but the volumes they stocked are small, at about 40 bags.

"By the time we bag it, load it, drive it in to town, unload it, we're not making any money," he said. "We need to be selling full pallets. They don't buy 40 bags at a time from Quebec — they buy four pallets at a time."

Angiers said the farming industry in Labrador won't flourish if there isn't a solid local market for selling the product.

"Nobody's had a wholehearted customer that'll say, 'We'll take it whatever way we can get it and we'll give you as much as we can give you, and let's get the industry up and running.' Nobody can compete with what Quebec is dumping in here," he said.

"We need commercial farming in all regions of Canada," Angiers said. "It's crazy to be trucking potatoes all the way from Quebec and other places when we can grow them right here."

George Andrews, president of the board for the Terrington Co-op, said they do buy produce from multiple local producers, but said the store hasn't been approached by Angiers this year.

In the past, he said, the Co-op has purchased from local producers when the product is good quality and reasonably priced.

"Why wouldn't we buy it if it's local and the price is competitive?" he said.

Andrews said even if the price isn't competitive, the Co-op would still consider stocking items from a local producer, since there is customer interest in local products.

CBC News didn't hear back from a request with the North West Company, which operates the Northmart in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

'Always a struggle'

Before this year's harvest, Angiers got federal and provincial money to cover most of the cost of a new Grimme potato harvester, which makes his work much easier.

Angiers estimates he'll use the machine to harvest about 50,000 pounds of potatoes this season, but right now his only order is for 1,200 pounds to be shipped up the coast to Rigolet.

So, the plan is to sell potatoes directly to consumers at his farm, as well as on the roadside.

"We're going to load up, and we're going to go to Cartwright and we're going to go to Lab City," he said. "We sold more potatoes in Lab City [last year] than we did in three months in Goose Bay to the stores."

Angiers said it isn't just the local grocery stores he needs business from — it's the locals.

"People should be tripping over themselves to eat a healthy potato, a local healthy potato," he said.

"Last year we probably fed as much product to the livestock as we did to the people because we couldn't sell it." 

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