Aug 14, 2024
by Leslie Brown, CWCF and Flourish Community Development Co-operative – Intro NOT delivered; John Harvie introduced all the nominees.
Best Western Hotel & Conference Centre
Nova Scotia Co-op Council, 75th Anniversary, with invited guest Governor General Mary Simon.
Your Excellencies and honoured guests –
Good afternoon – It is my pleasure to present Linda Best, founder & managing director of FarmWorks Investment Co-operative, Member of the Order of Nova Scotia, and this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Co-operators Award 2024.
Linda hails from Somerset in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. She was one of five children who grew up on a mixed farm — dairy, apples, and field crops — learning early on the importance of fresh local food.
Upon graduating from Acadia University, Linda began her career as a medical microbiologist at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, then as a gastroenterology researcher, peer-reviewed author, speaker, supervisor, and consultant.
Her farm upbringing and work experience cemented Linda’s belief in the importance of nutritious food for long term health. By the time she moved on from her involvements with the QEII and other activities, the dismal twin trajectories of reduced access to local fresh foods, and ongoing decline in food production in the province had become matters of grave concern. As one response, Linda helped found and is still a leader in, Friends of Agriculture Nova Scotia, which emphasizes an educational mission.
Her leadership and activism continued via an ever-evolving volunteer engagement with matters related to “Healthy Farms, Healthy Foods”, and to making food more accessible and secure in N.S and beyond. The innovative Nova Scotia Community Economic Development Investment Fund program galvanized Linda, who led a “get her done” group in seizing the opportunity to further that vision.
Linda saw the potential of a fund that enables Nova Scotians to receive tax credits for investing in food-related businesses. Further, Farmwork’s operation as a blind pool has been recognized as an innovative application of the co-operative model, earning several awards in Nova Scotia and in Canada.
Once, when I asked Linda why FarmWorks was founded as a co-operative, she replied that one of the attractions was the democratic underpinning of the “one person one vote” approach, which would help sustain FarmWorks as a broadly based organization. The elected volunteer Board of Directors manages the Share Offers and the portfolio of loans. Each investor is a member of FarmWorks, able to vote for and be nominated as a Director.
As further elements of the commitment to co-operatives, FarmWorks is an associate member of the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation, with whom many of the investors hold registered accounts. Valley Credit Union is FarmWorks’ trustee.
Linda, individually and with members of her team, regularly travels across Nova Scotia promoting the Co-op, attracting new members and capital, meeting with current and prospective clients, and providing friendly, in-person encouragement to supplement the financial support provided to them.
Over the years, Linda has generously accepted numerous speaking requests, resulting in her traveling and ZOOMing widely in Canada and abroad, promoting FarmWorks’ commitments and the value of the CEDIF program. Variations of NS CEDIFs have been instituted in several Canadian provinces.
Since its founding in 2011, FarmWorks has loaned more than $9.4 million and has granted more than 150 loans to food-related businesses across Nova Scotia. Entrepreneurs and their communities have benefited from this – ask Linda about the “Dartmouth Renaissance” as one example! Or talk with the many long term and more recent arrivals to this province who have found a calling in food-related entrepreneurship!
Linda has demonstrated unwavering commitment to ensuring the success of the Co-op. She is both a co-op leader and a facilitator – mentoring formal and informal relations of co-operation among past and present clients, investor-members, and others committed to the success of the local food industry in the province. Though it all runs the commitment to the health of Nova Scotians.
Linda Best is indeed a most worthy recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Co-operator Award.