First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun Agricultural Business Plan

(2022)

The First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun (NND) based in Mayo, Yukon, has requested the services of Upland Agricultural Consulting to develop a plan for their farm property. The resulting end deliverable will provide a set of NND-specific recommendations for new agricultural business endeavours.

The main goals of the Plan are to:

• Determine the agricultural viability of the farm site;
• Increase the amount of, and access to, locally grown and produced food;
• Examine economic opportunities related to food production; and
• Provide rehabilitation and horticultural therapy as a co-benefit of agricultural enterprise.

For the purposes of this feasibility assessment, the following assumptions were made:

• There are dual objectives of 1) revenue-generating economic development and 2) community amenity benefits (healthy food for community members) that are related to this project.
• While there is a relatively large amount of potentially productive land available, the business development opportunities analysis must also focus on economic scale, capacity, and feasibility.
• The opportunity to partner with neighbouring communities and existing organizations from outside the community should also be considered.