Achi news desk-
When Matthew Roy moved from New Hampshire in 2020 to start a farm in southwestern Nova Scotia, one of the new crops he zeroed in on was saffron.
A spice so expensive that it has been called red gold, saffron is traditionally grown in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Spain and a handful of other countries.
“We decided we would bring two new crops to Nova Scotia, specifically because of the climate change,” Roy said recently from his four-year-old Coastal Grove Farm in Upper Port La Tour, NS (Tea was the another new crop ).
“We knew it was going to be hot here,” he said.
Roy said the saffron gamble paid off with a product that surprised him. In 2021, he harvested 172 grams of the precious spice, and in 2022 it rose to 342 grams. He said last summer’s extreme rainfall and fall hurt the yield, which dropped to 66 grams. On Coastal Grove’s website, a one-gram container of certified organic Nova Scotian saffron sells for $49.99.
Margaret Skinner, a research professor at the University of Vermont, studies the plant and has been working with Roy on his farm, which also grows vegetables and herbs. While warming temperatures make Nova Scotia more hospitable to saffron, other climate effects such as drought and flooding could be detrimental.
“It’s not just ‘Oh, it’s warmer in the winter or hotter or drier or wetter in the summer,'” says Skinner. “It’s more that we get extreme weather. When there’s a drought, it’s very dry for a long time. When it gets hot, it gets very hot for us. When it’s it rains, it often floods.”
Navin Ramankutty, Canada Research Chair in data science for sustainable global food systems at the University of British Columbia, agreed with Skinner.
He pointed to similar problems in Canada, particularly the recent heat wave and flooding that affected British Columbia over the past few years.
“Farmers are adapting to that change,” he said. “Perhaps the crops we are growing at the moment in these places, we cannot continue to grow them. Perhaps farmers will change to grow different crops, crops that are more suitable for warmer climates.”
A 2022 study published in the Canadian Journal of Plant Science found that growing saffron in cold climates faces challenges because low soil temperatures inhibit flowering, but said the right farming techniques could improve results.
“Although there are indications that saffron yields are higher in climates with warm summers, autumn rains and cold winters, typical of the Mediterranean basin, saffron production in the cooler climates of Quebec, Canada, and neighboring New England has been proceed in the past. five to 10 years,” he said.
Usually harvested from mid-October to mid-November, the purple crocus flowers are picked by hand. The petals are separated – also by hand – and the three small, delicate stigmas are carefully isolated, then dried in the sun, becoming one of the most expensive and popular spices the world.
Saffron is used in products including food, medicine and cosmetics. A kilogram requires a stigma of about 150,000 flowers and sells for up to $6,000.
Bashir Ahmad Allie, head of senior research for saffron and seed spices at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, is not surprised that parts of Canada can grow the sensitive spice, considering how climate is changing across the world
He said he would like to work with farmers here to understand how climate change affects the area and the growth of saffron. In Canada, the spice is now grown in parts of Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
While saffron farming in Jammu and Kashmir is passed down from one generation to the next, climate change is turning some of the young people away, Allie said. The warming and unpredictable temperatures are causing farmers to spend more time, money and effort without any guarantee of a product, he pointed out.
In the 1990s, Allie said the region saw a “uniform pattern” of rain from May to October, but over the past few years it has seen unseasonal snow, hail, flooding and drought.
“Climate change is a reality. It is wreaking havoc on saffron,” he said. “And that surprises us.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 26, 2024.
— With files from The Associated Press
