Bridge Into Agriculture helps connect the province’s African communities with agriculture
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Nova Scotia university has launched a new ag program for a specific community in the province.
Dalhousie University’s new Bridge Into Agriculture program is designed to bridge the gap between African Nova Scotian communities and agriculture through the production of a small vegetable garden.
“We’re teaching horticultural skills and providing opportunities to explore job options and agricultural careers within Nova Scotia,” Kristen Hudson, a horticulture coordinator within Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Agriculture, told Farms.com.
The program is 22 weeks long and is delivered online.
The current program is in its fourth week.
Learners receive all the materials they need, including gardening tools, seeds and transplants, to help them apply the soil health and other knowledge learned throughout the course.
Other program materials include a history of African Nova Scotians.
For context, Nova Scotia has the largest Black population in the Atlantic provinces and the fifth largest Black population in the country, Statistics Canada data from 2016 says.
In addition, Mathieu da Costa, who served as an interpreter for French and Dutch traders, is considered by historians to be the first Black person to visit Canada. He arrived in 1605 and settled in Port Royal, N.S.
Guest speakers, farm tours and community learning are also part of the program.
“The class is highly participatory, so learners are encouraged to share stories and recipes with one another,” Hudson said. “This is our first time offering the course, so we’re hoping through group discussions we can identify what crops are important to those communities, so we know what to include in future versions of the program.”
African Nova Scotia farmers learned to produce food on land they were given.
And that farmland usually wasn’t in good condition, Hudson said.
“Historically the land given to the farmers wasn’t the most fertile,” she said. “So, we know they grew a lot of hearty root crops like potatoes, carrots and cabbage. They also used whatever was on the land, like rabbits or seafood items from local fishermen.”
The Bridge Into Agriculture program is a joint effort between Dalhousie University, African Nova Scotian Affairs, the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture.
Anyone looking for more information on the program can call 1-902-893-6666.