It will come as no surprise that Nunavut, Canada’s coldest region and among the world’s most inhospitable, has exactly zero farms. And yet, according to the Government of Canada, Nunavut appears to have a future in sustainable agriculture.
Earlier this year, the federal agriculture bureau handed out just over $3 million to the territory’s economic-development agency under a program known as the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership ("Sustainable CAP"), which aims to “to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation, and resiliency of the agriculture, agri‐food and agri‐based products sector.”
A spokesperson for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) said the program's "framework supports initiatives and activities across the entire food system – not just for farms. This can include action to support food security and Indigenous food systems, and a full range of food production activities, including wild food harvesting."
Sustainable CAP, the spokesperson said, "seeks to advance...priorities that will increase the competitiveness, innovation and resilience of the agriculture sector, while taking into account the various regional needs from coast to coast." The money equates to about $90 for each of Nunavut's 33,330 residents, who are spread across an area about the size of Mexico. About 84% of the territory's people are Inuit.
The federal-provincial-territorial partnership recognizes that other provinces are better suited for agricultural endeavors. Ontario, whose 48,386 farms are the most of any province, received $341 million in funding from AAFC. Alberta, where 41,505 farms are located, received $304 million, and Saskatchewan, with 34,128 farms, got $291 million.
The other cold-weather territories also received funding. But they actually have farms. The Yukon, which received $5.6 million, has 88 farms, and the Northwest Territories, with eight farms, received $4.58 million.
Nunavut does have greenhouses financed in part by AAFC, and other indoor-growing facilities go back at least as far as 2013. Spinach, kale, peppers and tomatoes have been produced in this manner in Gjoa Haven, which lies above the Arctic Circle on King William Island about 1,000 kilometers north of pretty-cold Yellowknife.
According to Nunavut's travel website, the territory's warmest spot is Kugluktuk, where temperatures average -17C in April, the start of the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, and rise to 11C in July before falling to 3C in September and -7C in October, the tail end of the harvest in more temperate regions.
--HBB