Our belief is that sustainability must be interwoven with the fabric of everyday life, that it must be pragmatic yet aspirational, and it must constantly evolve to meet greater awareness and knowledge.
We take on simpler adjustments immediately, plan for more complex changes long term, and continue to seek input from team members and our community. It is our goal to communicate our progress here as we improve these practices in relation to people and place. Benjamin Bridge's sustainability committee has a mandate to relentlessly identify these improvements.
We hope that you will contact the committee for research partnerships, project proposals, or if you are a supplier innovating in sustainable development.
COMMUNITY
Benjamin Bridge strives to nurture not only healthy soils but healthy lives in a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming workplace. We provide extensive health and wellness benefits to our full-time team, support flexible schedules for many on our team in a results-driven work environment, and encourage continuing education, as well as personal growth within our business.
Benjamin Bridge is an equal opportunity employer, committed to promoting equity as an anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, anti-bullying workplace. As part of this work, we have undergone training through the Valley African Nova Scotia Development Association to improve our workplace culture and awareness. We continue to seek opportunities to learn through community organizations.
Our vineyards are nestled in the hills of the Gaspereau Valley, before the Gaspereau River spills out to the sea through the Bay of Fundy. This parcel of land has a long history of providing for people from time immemorial, beginning with the Mi’kmaq people.
What came to be known as the vineyards of Benjamin Bridge in 1999, are in fact a part of Mi’kma’ki - the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq Nation and home to the Peace and Friendship Treaties. Consistent with the essence of these Treaties and as allies, we wish to humbly acknowledge our friendship with Glooscap First Nation, with whom we’ve begun a lifelong relationship of reconciliation, with an annual public event at the vineyard featuring food, storytelling, and learning.
In honouring the past farming families who were on this land directly before us – namely the Gertridge and Westcott (Benjamin) families, following the Acadian expulsion – Benjamin Bridge strives to maintain connection through employment, sharing access to our land, and heritage fishing along the Gaspereau River.
Benjamin Bridge aims to meaningfully improve its practices and grow as part of its rural community in partnership with a variety of not-for-profit initiatives, post-secondary institutions, and regional health foundations.
Looking to join our team? Please feel welcome to send us a resume.
PLACE
To steward healthy, thriving vines it takes more than just addressing farming practices. Growing grapes is a form of monoculture, and one of our prime objectives is to foster biodiversity wherever possible in our vineyards. Through various practices, we strive for the healthiest habitat with over 70 acres of vineyard and more than 40 acres of non-viticultural lands.
These practices include: allowing wild plants to mature and cycle through succession, composting all pomace waste from harvest, caring for an apiary with pollinator gardens, growing culinary gardens relying on a no-till strategy and perennial plantings, and a now-defunct livestock program which will return in future years.
In 2019, we began to assess our carbon footprint via greenhouse gas emissions. Through our sustainability committee we are working towards reducing our footprint by assessing our supply chain, third party supplier practices and materials, transportation, and agricultural practices.
We are making small, simple changes immediately - such as reducing plastics at every opportunity - while the deeper problems require longer-term solutions. As a small-farm business the opportunity to offset carbon is directly under our feet if we prioritise the biological health of our soil.
Knowing that biologically alive and diverse soils can sequester carbon at an impressive rate, we understand we are the solution ourselves. Our team works with a sincere dedication to being a sustainable addition to our region and we look forward to communicating about these efforts in the near future.