New NSFA president introduces himself and recaps virtual event

by Tim Marsh
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tim Marsh, and I am the newly elected president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA).

I’m a dairy farmer along the dike land in Poplar Grove, Hants County. I milk 90 Holsteins, have a herd of around 200 head, and farm 750 acres, which includes almost 300 acres of dike land.

Before taking over the family farm in 2000, I graduated from Acadia University and was a geologist for a gypsum mining company. My passion for geology and soils is evident. I’ve served as chair of the Soil and Crop Improvement Association of Nova Scotia and was also a Nova Scotia representative on the Soil Conservation Council of Canada.

I was also one of the original directors on the Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia board and have served as chair of the Hants County Federation of Agriculture.

I enjoy spending time with family. My wife Shelley and I often take the grandkids to search for agate in the Bay of Fundy. Shelley and I have three sons: Tyler is now driving trucks, Peter is at home on the farm, and Craig farms on P.E.I.

Along with my move into the NSFA president’s role, we have a new slate of officers on the NSFA council. Victor Oulton is past-president, Allan Melvin is the first vice-president, Lauren Park is the second vice-president, and Chris de Waal is now corporate secretary and treasurer. In addition to the new slate of officers, I’m excited to welcome Alicia King and Jocelyn Durston to the NSFA council table and would like to congratulate Lauren Park and Joe Piotti on their re-election to the council.

MEETING RECAP

We celebrated our 125th year as an organization with a five-day virtual event, Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, with the annual general meeting held on Dec. 3. It was certainly different from past AGMs.

I thank everyone who participated in our webinars and business meetings throughout the week. I also thank you all for your patience and understanding as we navigated our first virtual AGM.

On Nov. 30, we welcomed Clinton Monchuk, farmer and executive director of Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan. He gave a great presentation on public trust and the challenges we face as an industry.

On Dec. 1, we formally introduced the Agri-Environmental Program (AEP), a three-way partnership between the NSFA’s Environmental Farm Plan Program, the Nova Scotia agriculture department, and Perennia. We also presented a soil webinar, which was the first in an upcoming series of AEP webinars.

On Dec. 2, the Nova Scotia Young Farmers (NSYF) association held its annual meeting at which directors Megan McCully, Alana Bent, Jillian Bent, and Mandy Vosman were re-elected. After its AGM, the NSYF and our AgSector Program tackled the topic of farm transition. We welcomed farmers from three operations and a Farm Credit Canada transition specialist to discuss their transition stories and answer some questions from the audience.

During the AGM on Dec. 3, we welcomed Kings-Hants Liberal MP Kody Blois, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, Progressive Conservative agriculture critic John Lohr, and NDP agriculture critic Lisa Roberts. We appreciate them all taking the time to bring greetings to our members and allow for a quick Q&A session ahead of Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell.

We thank Minister Colwell for the Q&A session with our members. We appreciated hearing from him and our members.

During this meeting, we also passed our four standing policies for 2021, passed resolutions, and held the NSFA council election.

On Dec. 4, Farm Safety Nova Scotia (FSNS) launched its mental health campaign titled “We Talk. We Grow.” We are thrilled with the warm reception the campaign has received so far and look forward to bringing further mental health supports to Nova Scotia’s farming community.

Following the mental health campaign launch, FSNS welcomed Dr. Bill Howatt of Howatt HR Consulting, who discussed “mental fitness.”

The FSNS annual meeting rounded out the day with the election of two new board members, Janice Lutz and Foster Murphy.

I hope you all enjoyed our virtual event. Hopefully, I’ll see you in person for our 126th AGM!

(Tim Marsh is president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.)