A group of organic farmers is looking forward to self-sufficiency.
For the first year, in the three since they came into existence, the Muskoday Organic Growers Co-operative has grown enough potatoes to be able to sell the excess.
The bumper crop this year is allowing the growers to, not only support the food need on Muskoday First Nation, but sell potatoes to food box programs in Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
“It is really exciting. We’re just learning as we go along … but we’ve now reached the level where we are actually selling our potatoes, not just giving them away,” said Harvey Knight, president of the co-operative.
With the revenue they will buy more equipment.
But, before they get to the selling stage, the potatoes have to come out of the ground and the co-operative have enlisted help from the community.
Among the volunteers are Nicaraguans from the Canada World Youth program.
“To have the Nicaraguan people here to be with us to work with us in the potato field alongside us, it’s just an amazing experience,” said Knight.
“It’s really important, in a sense, to meet people from Nicaragua. It’s an honour for us to meet them because they’re the ones who are among the people in Central and South America who first developed these potatoes. They were developed down there by their ancestors.”
Knight said the opportunity for people on Muskoday First Nation to work with indigenous people from another country was rare.
“The indigenous people here have adopted that … horticultural tradition. It’s a tradition that we learned from them,” he said.
This crop is a good step forward for the Muskoday Organic Growers Co-operative, who lost almost all of their potatoes to an early frost last year.
ahill@rawlco.com
