Northern Farm Training Institute in Hay River joins int'l network

The Northern Farm Training Institute is stepping into the international agricultural arena.

The school, based in Hay River, N.W.T., is becoming a Savory Hub, connected to the Savory Institute, an international organization that says it finds ways to farm that doesn't degrade land.

"This is like falling inside of an encyclopedia of organic agriculture," says Jackie Milne, who founded the Northern Farm Institute. "We have just been given the opportunity to fast track to the most progressive people, leaders in transforming our agriculture systems."

The Savory Institute, founded by Allan Savory, is both renowned and controversial for work its done in Africa to preserve grasslands and reverse desertification.

Milne says Savory will bring along with it a curriculum that can be taught at the institute.

The end goal: genuinely sustainable farm systems.

"We don't have degraded land here but we don't want our land to be degraded," Milne told the large crowd at the Sunrise Friendship Centre in Hay River on Friday evening. "So if we don't do something pro-actively, the destructive systems will just keep coming."

Right now N.F.T.I. brings students from all over the N.W.T. to learn and spread agricultural lessons.

The MLA for Weledeh, Bob Bromley, made the trip down from Yellowknife to hear the announcement.

He says this increases the school's reach.

"With the Savory Institute, she [Milne] will now become national and international. Students will come from afar, not just the N.W.T., so she's really putting us on the map."

NFTI still needs to become fully certified by Savory, so the courses likely won't be available until next year.