b'If youre thinking about getting into farming with little to no investment, youve come to the wrong business. Thats notFrom where I sit today,possible. Even though land acquisition is one of largest obstaclesI need more acreage to get toto getting started, gone are the days when you can use labour (instead of equipment). Its too costly. Youve got to produce inthat magic, optimum number thathigher volume. Even though Ill probably never get to magnitudeI feel will generate profitability.of some of the higher producers in Canada, Ive got to be able toThe long and short of it is, Improduce efficiently and effectively enough to compete.MacDonald is also a new entrant farmer. MacDonald plantedgoing to need more land. 27 acres in his first year of farming in 2019, 55 acres in 2020, andthanks to the new crown land lease acquisition - 110 acres inGORDON PEDDLE2021, including 35 acres of potatoes on the newly leased land. He plans to seed 100 acres of hay land this fall. From there, heyou can overwinter (what you harvest). We were ready to go anticipates it will take three to five years to develop the clearedwith storage, and that was critical to our application. I think crown land to the point of cycling it all into three-year potatostorage is an area that the potato industry does need to expand rotation.in this area.While gaining access to land is amazing, MacDonald knows itsAnderson and Doman are also new entrant farmers. Anderson not a no-strings gift.says hes been looking for a land-base for several years. They The first thing we did when we got the lease was go out andhad a hunch that parcels would be tendered at some point, so buy a new tractor and a quarter million dollars worth of hayprepared a solid business plan long in anticipation. equipment. As we progress and expand, well have to spendWhen the opportunity came up, we were ready, he says. more money and time and energy to clear more land. Its anAnderson says he is excited and honoured to be part of investment by government in us, but its also an investment by usproducing food in Newfoundland for Newfoundlanders.into the land. Part of our goaland we did it with some of our very first MacDonald believes the government chose his applicationcrops that we ever pulled off our landis to bring it to the based on his business plan and enthusiasm, but also one otherpeople. Talking to the public and seeing how much emphasis key elementhis access to winter storage.people put on shopping local, seeing how passionate they are Its all well and good to develop land, but you got to ensureabout what were doing, that definitely contributes to our drive.SPUDSMART.COM Fall 202127'