18 March 2015

 BEST comments on the Amendment designed to provide tax breaks for people wanting to import “mushroom spawn, strawberry plants and trees of kinds that bear edible fruits or nuts”  in an effort to encourage local food production:

BEST is highly supportive of efforts to encourage greater food production locally. While it is unlikely that Bermuda will ever again be self sufficient in production, if it ever was, we can only applaud even small steps that will make it easier for Bermudians to have food gardens.

We are also supportive of the duty reductions that favor commercial farmers.

Most important is the need to preserve all arable land and encourage its productivity, maybe through incentives to private land-owners who allow farmers to work arable land that is presently un-farmed.

For more about Agriculture see The Role of Agriculture in Bermuda’s Future, a BEST publication: The Role of Agriculture in Bermudas Future 2