Newfoundland Turnip Supply in Jeopardy: Are We Facing a Shortage?

Adam Cardoulis works in the produce department at Colemans in St. John’s. He says when a customer can’t find turnip their reaction is much more severe than someone on the hunt for arugula or spinach. “Normally they won’t even ask a question, they’ll just say, ‘turnip.’ Like that. If we run out, we will hear about it every two minutes from our customers," Cardoulis told CBC News. But when people in Newfoundland and Labrador say pass the turnip, they really mean another vegetable. “There’s turnips and then there’s rutabagas,” said Michael Murray who owns Murray's Garden Centre in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. He has had this controversial conversation before. “White fleshed turnip is what really is turnip, and the rutabagas have the yellow flesh, which Newfoundlanders call turnip,” explained the horticulturist. Murray said the most defining difference between the two is the taste — rutabaga’s are much more sweet. Newfoundland turnip and climate change Rutabaga, not turnip, has played a very important role in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history, not just as a side dish, but as an easy-to-grow source of nutrition during tough times. But the hearty vegetable that thrived in the province’s cool climate is struggling. That is why fewer, sweet, locally-grown rutabagas are ending up on local plates. On a rainy and misty day in St. Anthony, Cal Nicholas and his wife, Ivy Pilgrim, check their gardens, which extend as far as the eye can see. Cal — or Mr. Cabbage as he is known in the community — shovels away a bit of dirt, rocks and worms. He bends down to pull a turnip from the dark soil. The vegetable is in bad shape, full of bites from “insects we’ve never seen before” and not worth the hundreds of hours it took to grow it, Nicholas said. What's more, his well has run dry for the first time since he opened shop two decades ago. “Climate change is having a big impact. The last two, three years, we are getting a lot of garbage,” Nicholas said. The proud farmer said turnips grown in these conditions are not fit, and he isn’t selling them. The spread of the root maggot On the opposite side of the island, Murray is cozy in a sweater and happy to be chatting inside his cafe and garden shop. “I started the business from the remnants of a heritage farm going back six generations now,” Murray said. When he started working on his over 200-year-old farm, he grew countless turnips. But, Murray said, warmer temperatures expedite the spread and growth of disease and pests. “Root maggot traditionally has two or three generations. I think this year we had maybe four generations of root maggot," he said. The future of the Newfoundland turnip Back at Colemans, the grocery store works hard to keep Newfoundland turnip — or rutabaga — in stock from September to March. Other times they bring in turnips grown in other parts of the country. People often aren’t happy with the replacement vegetables. But, problems have solutions, and all is not lost for the iconic vegetable, Murray said. Keeping locally-grown Newfoundland turnips fresh can be tricky, he said, and for grocery stores to keep up with the local demand, more industrial cold storage is needed. But farmers must also adapt to the changing climate, Murray stressed. “We are growing more crops in controlled environments, using hoop houses, using Reemay, a white cloth that we use over shelter houses. We don’t use very much or any pesticides at all,” he said. Another secret to successful vegetable gardening, according to Murray, is crop rotation. Early settlers ensured their harvest multiplied by rotating plants from one garden to another, to prevent the build up of insects and replenish the soil. Back in St. Anthony, Pilgrim and Nicholas are into their winter routine, checking their rabbit snares and packing wood to heat their home. Although they've stopped trying to sell turnips, they harvest enough to bottle their own vegetables to sustain themselves. The turnip is still a staple for their traditional Sunday dinner, much like many across Newfoundland and Labrador — which will likely ensure the demand for the beloved vegetable keeps going, no matter how hard it is to grow them.