Three growers have been awarded leases for land in Newfoundland and Labrador for large-scale potato production, the provincial government says in a news release on April 28.
The successful applicants were M&M Farming Company Ltd. who received land at Junction Brook, Adam Anderson and Lukas Doman at Dead Water Brook and Gordon Peddle at the former seed potato farm at Glenwood.
“Potatoes are a tried and true staple here in Newfoundland and Labrador. By preparing this farmland and making it available to farmers, we expect they will more than double our province’s potato production,” Derrick Bragg, provincial minister of fisheries, forestry and agriculture, says in the release.
The leases announcements comes following a request for proposals the provincial government released in April. The government cleared approximately 700 acres of land near Junction Brook, Dead Water Brook, and Glenwood, the release notes. The government predicts the land has the potential to yield more more than 230 acres of potatoes annually on a three-year rotation. Once this land is in production and harvested, Newfoundland will achieve its goal to double food self-sufficiency to 20 per cent by 2022.
The successful applicants were chosen based on the criteria of:
- Commercial viability
- Applicant’s need for additional land
- Degree to which the additional land will improve the viability of the farm land
- Management and use of the applicant’s existing land base, if applicable
- Markets/quotas available to the farm
- Proximity of the land to the applicant’s farm, if applicable
- Proposed management and use of additional land
There was also preference given to proposals for potato production and associated crops normally used in rotation with potato production, the release notes.
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