N.S. government's Buy Local campaign takes its first small step

The almost 400 residents who live at Northwood's long-term care home in Halifax may not have noticed a difference, but this month more of the food they're eating is coming from local producers.

Since the beginning of December, the downtown care facility has been receiving more meat, vegetables and fruit from farms and producers in the province, thanks to a $25,000 incentive from the Nova Scotia government.

Stephanie Hefford, Northwood's manager of food production, said the incentive is helping to offset the bigger bill that comes with buying local.

"It will help because buying local, as you know yourself in grocery stores, it's not cheap," Hefford told reporters at an event sponsored by the province to mark the start of this pilot project. "It is more expensive."

The three-month trial will determine whether the government incentive is enough to justify changing buying habits at Northwood.

Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow described the project as the first step in a campaign to encourage Nova Scotians to buy at least 20 per cent of their food locally by 2030.

"This is a pilot project, but if it's working for everyone, we keep growing," he said. "We're looking at hospitals, schools. universities, correctional facilities.

"For me, it's simple. Big kitchens, big impact."

Northwood serves roughly 1,200 meals a day to the residents at its Halifax campus. The annual grocery bill is $2 million, Hefford said.