Jessie: As a small-scale farmer, I have always felt that I could find information about the technical aspects of farming. But I've not felt that we have the networks we need to talk about what it really means to challenge the power structures of our food systems and our positions as farmers and farmworkers with varying levels of privilege. It was really my time spent with other youth around the world through La Via Campesina that helped me figure out why agroecology was important to me, and why I wanted to bring it home and try to understand how it fits into our farming community here.
In the National Farmers Union, we have been using agroecology as a framing concept, but our emphasis is more on exploring our situation through a collective process. We invite people to share their experiences and realities and to look upstream in our context: what forces are perpetuating the challenges that we and people in our communities are facing? Once we start to share common ground in terms of our analysis, we can point to the concept of agroecology as a guiding set of principles and methodologies, naming it as a pathway forward.
So, youth are bringing agroecology to your territory?
Jessie: The young people in the National Farmers Union, more broadly, are mostly first-generation land workers. Six out of seven of the original NFU board members in Nova Scotia/Mi’kma’ki are 35 or under. I think many of us had political values that pushed us towards farming. Now, this is bringing us together to try to build an organising space that represents why we farm and the vision we share in terms of aligning with food sovereignty here. Many of us who have been involved with La Via Campesina were deeply influenced by learning about agroecology within a global solidarity framework. The young people are really interested in connecting internationalism with their farm work and their policy advocacy at home.
Young people are really interested in connecting internationalism with their farm work
It is important to have a lot of cross-generational engagement, because the reality is that the average age of farmers here is 55+, and we want them to be at the table as well. So our current goal is to grow the National Farmers Union here, positioning it as an open, welcoming space for farmers, farmworkers and allies. A farm community where they can share and learn together rooted in solidarity and mutual aid.
Paul: The roots of our movement were revitalised when the NFU youth retreat happened in Nova Scotia/Mi’kma’ki in the winter of 2023. At the end of the retreat, we invited the broader community, including elder NFU members, to come together to think about how to re-grow the movement. By popular vote, we decided to move forward with agroecology as our top priority. It was important to have the elder NFU members present and participating so that we could all understand the history as we planned ahead.
In 2025, a youth member took the initiative to form a Nova Scotia chapter of the NFU’s Indigenous Solidarity Working Group. This happened when Indigenous NFU farmers Celeste Smith and Natasha Anderson hosted a 'Land Back' session at the 2025 National Convention that really inspired us. Afterwards, the intergenerational NS delegation wanted to commit to more relationship building with the Mi’kmaq.
When discussing agroecology, we know its relevance goes beyond just farmers and farmworkers, which is the NFU's main focus. In that sense, it’s important to acknowledge that while we may bring this particular language and set of principles of agroecology and food sovereignty, Mi’kmaw people have been practicing food self-determination in this region since time immemorial. We believe there can be no food sovereignty without Indigenous food sovereignty. The NFU here is building relationships with Mi’kmaw food system stewards, and we approach these relationships with humility and Etuaptmumk, or ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’, which is a guiding principle shared with me by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall.
At the beginning of March 2026, the Indigenous Solidarity Working Group, now composed of eight youth and two older members, decided to respond directly to a request from Mi’kmaw Elder Ernest Johnston. Ernest had shared stories of betrayal by the colonial Canadian government, the displacement and centralisation of the Mi’kmaq onto reservation lands, and the disrespect of their treaty rights to access their traditional food and medicine throughout Mi’kma’ki. He made clear how regaining access to food, medicine and land is necessary for reconciliation and growing Indigenous sovereignty.
In response, the Working Group is now reaching out to Ulnooweg and Mi’kmaw-led community gardens to offer support by growing traditional plants and medicine that will be shared back to them. Those of us who have access to land are also exploring if we can plant these plants as part of a loose network that provides safe access to land for Mi’kmaw community members.
Are there other ways agroecology is growing in the region?
Paul: The National Farmers Union of Nova Scotia/Mi’kma’ki decided to do a bunch of exchanges after collectively voting to prioritise the scaling out of agroecology.
Jessie: In early 2024, we sent a wide call-out through social media and through existing networks to those who might be interested in hosting what we were calling ‘Agroecology Exchanges.’ We encouraged farmers and farmworkers to submit applications to host and propose events that contained three time blocks: a meal, a technical-oriented block and a discussion-oriented block. We weren't really prescriptive about the methodologies, but now, after hosting 7 or 8, we have a toolkit. While these events are geared towards farmers and farmworkers, we’ve had good participation from local community members and urban folks as well.
We hosted the first Agroecology Exchange on our farm in May 2024, and what really stood out to me was the palpable excitement among the attendees about making intentional space for dialogue and learning from one another. It was no surprise to me that everyone who came was young. Discussions on agroecology in Nova Scotia, even prior to these exchanges, were already driven by youth.
It was really my time spent with other youth around the world through La Via Campesina that helped me figure out why agroecology was important to me
I gave a short presentation in my living room with a brief overview of the Nyéléni principles of agroecology, my experience with La Via Campesina and the IALA Maria Cano agroecology school in Colombia that I had the privilege of visiting in 2023. My sense was that it was some participants' first real exposure to the concept of agroecology. One person, a landworker and herbalist who had a lot of experience in permaculture, was particularly taken with the concept of agroecology and pronounced that this was what they had been looking for; a set of principles that better fit into their value system and practice. It was so exciting to be able to offer space for ideas to percolate.
Paul: In the agroecology exchanges, we welcome anyone from the community to come. Our kids participate and the neighbours' kids are there, and we hope these events will attract other young people who are interested in agroecology.
As an adult educator, I really appreciated learning about the term praxis: how we take theory and turn it into action or practice. And when working with more young people, including our kids, how do we meet people where they're at? Sometimes language and theory are on our learning edge; it’s advanced. We can make it more accessible by being together on the land and mixing in agroecology vocabulary with more familiar terms, or using creative activities that make people feel more rooted and confident while practicing with new ideas. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about – making connections and helping one another understand these concepts of power imbalances and food sovereignty, and what that looks like in our backyards.
At one exchange, we invited some local food people, farmers, grocery store owners and politicians, and shared the definition of agroecology. Then people practiced speaking to each other about agroecology as if they were six years old, using simple language. It was lovely in a sense, because while we were playfully practicing this, we were rooting it in the broader framework of agroecology and food sovereignty, and understanding the history and praxis of it. And people were like: “Yeah, I already do this, just by a different name!” and “Whoa, how do I connect to this principle of prioritising women and youth having access to the land?” and “How do I move from already localising inputs to recognising where corporate structures are taking away that opportunity?” Afterwards, it was neat to be in other spaces, like boards of other organisations, and see the people from that workshop practicing the language and applying the principles of agroecology. That’s a marker of success!
Jessie: Our agroecology exchanges are ongoing; we hope to maintain a small pot of funds so that even more people can host community members on their farms. To further grow our movement and gather more tools in our collective toolbox, we have invited La Via Campesina member organisation Boricuá from Puerto Rico/Borikén to come here. Their brigade model is inspiring to us, and we’re excited to have an opportunity to host members of Organización Boricuá for a week and engage in farmer-to-farmer training with them. Solidarity activities like this help us to develop a sense of what it can mean for the NFU in Nova Scotia to expand our capacity for political education. For us, that is a core component of the movement we are trying to expand here.
Interview by Martha Caswell, research affiliate at the University of Vermont’s Institute for Agroecology and member of the editorial board of Rooted Magazine. Contact: martha.caswell@uvm.edu
This article is part of Issue 4-2026: Youth leading the way in agroecology.
