Author name: Brenda O'Farrell The Advocate

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) has promised new financial assistance for the purchase of new equipment for producers and companies in beekeeping and plant production.

Quebec estimates that up to 550 projects could be financed with the new funds. The money is being provided in the context of changing conditions for bee and plant producers due to climate change, which brings challenges to both sectors but also opportunities as the longer growing season allows for greater production.

“Increasing productivity in the agricultural sector is a priority for this government,” said Quebec Minister of Agriculture André Lamontagne. “I’m pleased with this support, which will allow companies specializing in plant and beekeeping production to modernize their equipment and increase their competitiveness.”

The province wants producers to fully modernize both sectors of production, and projects approved must involve the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment. Apiculturists will increase their chances of successfully applying by outlining projects that will increase their beekeeping stock, whether by increasing the survival rate of bees or by purchasing additional hives.

Agriculture equipment prices have soared post-pandemic, with supply issues raising prices beyond already-high inflation. Beekeepers also suffered heavy losses in bee populations last winter. La Financière agricole du Québec has reported record-high claims in the province of over $3 million.

Special bonus for “outlying” regions

“With this announcement, we are also giving an additional boost to companies located in remote regions,” said Lamontagne in an official announcement on November 24. “The economy of all regions of Quebec will benefit.”

Quebec will make $20 million available, with a 15 per cent bonus for producers in “outlying regions”, which MAPAQ defines in this case as Abitibi-Témiscamingue-Northern Quebec, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Côte-Nord, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Outaouais, and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Funding will come over the span of three years: an initial amount of $14 million will be paid in 2024-2025 and another $6 million in 2025-2026.

So what can the new envelope of $20 million be used for? The funding will chiefly benefit agribusinesses in Quebec that have ambitious innovation plans that involve the purchase of new equipment and can back up their project with a solid business plan.

MAPAQ says that the first part of the “Productivité végétale” initiative gave out $96 million dollars to over 4,300 projects from 2018 until 2023.

In those cases, funds were allocated to everything from nearly a quarter of a million dollars to Université Laval for conducting research on storage and overwintering for queen honeybees to $40,000 for creating a guidebook on the commercial harvesting of wild plants. Another Quebec company received over $80,000 to make improvements to it soilless strawberry cultivation system.

This time around, Quebec’s funding initiative is much more pointed, hoping to provide an economic stimulus in the purchase of new equipment and to put plant producers and beekeepers in a position to whether climate change and a shifting economy in the future.

First come, first served

Like many of Quebec’s agriculture funding programs in recent years, money is offered on a “first come, first served” basis. Applications will be assessed by a jury, but the initiative lasts until the deadline or until the money runs out.

That means Quebec agribusinesses will benefit by getting a strong application in early.

There are two sets of deadlines for the Productivité végétale initiative: producers from outlying regions will be able to submit their projects from December 10, 2024 to February 7, 2024 — or until the funds are exhausted. 

Producers from a “central region” will be able to submit their application from January 7 to February 7, 2025 (or until the available funds are exhausted.) Quebec considers these regions central: Capitale-Nationale, Centre-du-Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches, Estrie, Montréal-Laval-Lanaudière, Laurentides, Mauricie,  and Montérégie.

For more information or to apply, Google “initiative ministérielle productivité végétale” or visit:

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

La Financière agricole du Québec has unveiled its 2023-2024 balance sheet, showing that the provincial farm insurance agency provided nearly $1.23 billion in loan guarantees to Quebec farmers in the last fiscal year.

Much of that money was granted to dairy and commercial crop companies ($734.1 million) and forestry producers ($9 million). The FADQ cites climate change and inflation as the big reasons why Quebec producers and agri-food companies needed to appeal to their provincial agricultural risk management agency.

“Faced with difficult climatic conditions and the inflationary economic context, La Financière agricole has demonstrated its support for agricultural producers through its agility, support and ability to adapt its programs,” said FADQ president and CEO Ernest Desrosiers.

That $1.23 billion also comprises 2,305 projects under the FADQ’s Sustainable Growth Investment Program (Programme Investissement Croissance Durable), an envelope of funding for agricultural entrepreneurs undertaking productive and sustainable investment projects.

“Our organization continues its mission for sustainable agriculture,” Desrosiers said. “For Quebec ag companies, we’re a strategic partner through our unique offer in terms of risk management and financing.”

In its efforts to support the next generation of Quebec farmers, the agency awarded 501 grants in 2023-2024, totalling $11.4 million. In its “Young Entrepreneurs” program, FADQ committed amounts of $3 million for 189 projects.

FADQ’s yearly report also showed it paid $820 million into insurance and income protection programs. Crop insurance programs (ASREC) paid $196 million in compensation, including nearly $66 million to companies producing cereals, grain corn and protein crops. For the Agricultural Income Stabilization Insurance (ASRA), compensations represented $382 million, with 6,181 people, especially for hog farms as Quebec’s pork industry continues to suffer from plant closures and instability caused from recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ”Agri” programs — Agri-stability, Agri-Québec and Agri-investment — paid out $243 million to Quebec producers and agribusinesses.

Business Risk Management pay-outs

• Agri-stability
  • 13,183 participants
  • Payments of $66 million
• Agri-Quebec Plus
  • 10,458 participants
  • Payments of $6.3 million
• Agri-investment
  • 17,695 participants
  • Government contributions of $40 million
• Agri-Québec (year of participation 2022)
  • 14,786 participants
  • Government contributions of $130 million

Mac grad aims to continue and grow the family farm

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

For Connor Velthuis, growing up on the family farm in small-town Ontario was all about tractor rides and tagging along with dad.

“My very first memory on the farm is sitting in the tractor with dad, pulling the forage harvester,” the 21-year-old recalled. “I held my hands over my ears the entire time because I was afraid of the very loud metal-detector alarm coming on at any time. That would be the highlight of my week!”

The Velthuis farm in Osgoode, now part of the rural south end of the city of Ottawa, started long before Connor came on the scene. His grandparents founded it in 1959, shortly after their emigration from The Netherlands. They started a dairy and crop operation and raised nine children of which two remained on the farm – Connor’s father, Paul, and his uncle, Steven.

Connor joined his local 4-H Club at age 9 and never looked back. Over the years, he has been active in the crop club and dairy clubs and become a senior member.

“I’ve evolved from being the youngest to the oldest member in the club,” he said. “Having been on both sides over the years has led me to have a greater understanding of the teaching and learning processes — and that can be applied to anything in life.”

Diversified operation

Velthuis Farms Limited operates on an expanse of 2,000 acres these days, cropping corn, wheat, soybeans and alfalfa for feed and sale, and milking a herd of 230. But it was a recent venture into speciality beef that has brought Steven and Paul Velthuis’s farm more attention and profit: Wagyu beef, known for its marbling, fine texture and high price.

“The first time I heard of ‘Wagyu’ was when I came home from school one day and saw this big black cow in a pen, and I had no idea what it was,” Connor said. “From there we built our herd and started selling to customers. And it’s only grown ever since.”

Connor’s uncle Steven purchased a cow-calf pair of Wagyu animals in Vermont before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Connor was just enrolled in Macdonald Campus’s Farm Management and Technology program. The family did some flush work with their Wagyu heifer and put embryos into recipients to get their herd on the ground quickly. Now, they have a 50-head Wagyu herd that are DNA-registered with Wagyu associations in Australia and the U.S. to prove their authenticity.

“It was something different to try,” Connor explained. “With the popularity of beef-on-dairy breeding in the industry, we figured we might as well try this with purebred Wagyu and see the process to the end.”

Direct to consumers

Now, Velthuis Farms sells Wagyu beef directly to the consumer and to high-end restaurants and sports bars.

“The first years were essentially word of mouth,” Connor said. “We started going to the Ottawa Farmers’ Market in the spring to get our name out there directly to consumers and that bolstered sales greatly. Now, we have several repeat customers from as far away as Toronto.”

It’s a niche market that has done well for the Velthuis family. Paul, Steven, Connor and Connor’s cousin, Brendan, tend to the herd and are in touch with other Wagyu producers in the province. They estimate that the number of Wagyu beef operations in Ontario is in the low double digits.

And it’s likely to remain a niche product. In 1997, Japan declared Wagyu cattle a national treasure and no longer permits live cattle or their DNA to be exported, making Velthuis Farms a sizeable player in a somewhat protected market.

For Connor, knowing that there’s a stable and diverse farm operation at home means his future is secure. Since graduating from Mac in the spring of 2024, he has returned to Osgoode full time, taking on tasks related to dairy, the family’s cash cropping – and Wagyu beef.

“Having a say in what’s next is a great feeling to have,” he said. “And knowing that I have a great relationship with the prior generations and with my own third generation — that’s a truly great feeling.”

Cutline:

Connor Velthuis showed a heifer from the family farm in the Spring Yearling class at the Royal Winter Fair in 2023.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

A recent report from the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec reveals that the number of dairy cows in the province has decreased drastically in the past 40 years.

But the same report also shows that Quebec dairy producers have more than made up for it with their efficiency — producing more milk with smaller herds.

Using figures from Statistics Canada, MAPAQ states that “in the province of Quebec, the total number of dairy cows has fallen by 50 per cent, from 710,000 head in 1981 to 353,000 head in 2022.”

However, figures show that the province’s dairy industry is doing more with less.

“At the same time,” MAPAQ writes, “milk production increased by 21 per cent, from 29 million hectolitres (Mhl) in 1981 to 35 Mhl in 2022.”

Taken together, those numbers reveal that the average Quebec dairy cow is producing 140 per cent more milk in 2022 compared with 1981.

MAPAQ’s report also show that Quebec is leading the country’s dairy production in key areas. The province produces 50 per cent of Canada’s cheese and accounts for 75 per cent of the quantity of yogurt produced in the country.

Milk down, yogurt up

The report reveals some marked changes in consumer habits regarding dairy over the past 40 years.

Overall, consumption of dairy products has fallen by 14 per cent since 1981. That trend is largely driven by a decrease in actual milk consumption: whereas the average Quebecer consumed 55 litres of milk in 1981, and provincial per capita consumption peaked in 1987 at 63 litres annually, the figure now hovers at 30 litres per person. All in all, those numbers represent a decrease of 45 per cent.

Quebecers are also buying and eating less butter.

“From 1981 to 2007, per capita consumption of butter decreased from 4.34 kg to 2.59 kg, the lowest level recorded during the period,” MAPAQ’s report states. “A rise was observed from 2008 to peak at 3.71 kg in 2021.”

Such a drop in milk and butter consumption would have been catastrophic for Quebec’s dairy industry where it not for the great gains made in marketing yogurt and specialty cheeses.

Driven by health food trends and the promotion of yogurt’s probiotic benefits, MAPAQ notes that the consumption of yogurt has increased fivefold in 40 years. Annual yogurt consumption rose from 1.64 litres per person (retail weight) in 1981 to 8.89 litres in 2022. In 2015, annual consumption peaked at 10.99 litres, a level considered by Quebec manufacturers to be a plateau that is holding steady.

Interestingly, 2008 marked the year that yogurt consumption surpassed that of ice cream in the province. Quebecers are now eating far less ice cream than they used to: intake of the frozen dairy dessert has fallen by more than 60 per cent in 40 years, from 12.57 litres to 4.51 litres per year per person.

Specialty cheese capital

Quebec’s status as Canada’s leading cheese producer has meant that it has benefitted greatly from the marketing of specialty cheeses (including mozzarella, but excluding cheddar and processed cheeses).

Per capita cheese consumption across all categories increased by nearly 53 per cent, but specialty or “fancy” and “luxury” cheeses enjoyed huge gains, with annual per-capita consumption rising from 3.03 kg in 1981 to 8.65 kg in 2022.

“These cheeses now represent more than half (58 per cent) of the total volume of cheese consumed per person, compared to less than a third (31 per cent) in 1981,” MAPAQ states.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Environment Canada has launched a new federal agency that will protect Canada’s water from pollution and the damaging effects of industrial and agricultural activities, said Steven Guilbeault, federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

“Droughts, floods (and) pollution from farming and industrial activities have significant impacts on water quality — impacts that are very serious and costly,” said Guilbeault at a press conference in Winnipeg on Oct. 16.

The Canada Water Agency (CWA) will implement Canada’s Freshwater Action Plan, which was announced as part of the 2017 federal budget. The plan is aimed at improving freshwater management through efforts to improve the water quality of the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, the Fraser River and other waterways of “national significance” throughout Canada.

“The agency will help the Government of Canada better address current water challenges and those of the future,” Guilbeault told a crowd of reporters and the public in downtown Winnipeg, where the agency will be based.

“We need to be prepared for what comes in the future, we need to recognize that water is becoming more scarce and more precious. We have a responsibility to protect the waters we have.”

Despite Guilbeault’s comments that agricultural pollution has a significant impact on water quality, the creation of a stand-alone agency to manage Canada’s freshwater has been a recommendation of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) for years.

CFA president Keith Currie said the federation felt a pan-Canadian regulatory agency was vital given the importance of water for food production and adverse weather conditions driven by climate change affecting farming.

“(We) knew it was imperative that the government coordinate water-related issues across provinces, industries and conservation authorities to best manage water to keep it safe, clean and available for future generations,” said Currie, a sweet corn and hay producer from Collingwood, Ont.

“Water is one of the most essential inputs when it comes to food production, whether that be growing crops or keeping animals hydrated.”

At the moment, Currie says he can’t be sure how the creation of the CWA will impact the practices of agricultural producers in Canada. The federal government’s official release on the agency does not mention agriculture, and Guilbeault did not mention collaboration with agricultural groups at his announcement in Winnipeg.

Nonetheless, Currie says the CFA is hopeful that Ottawa will see agriculture as an ally.

“We will be working with the water agency on behalf of Canadian farmers to ensure that our sector’s needs are represented,” Currie said. “We also hope to see agriculture as a priority sector for water resources when competing with other industries.”

The CWA is funded with $85.1 million set aside from the 2023 federal budget. Ottawa has also pledged $650 million to enable the agency to offer grants supporting projects focused on restoring and protecting water resources.

Aim of Canada Water Agency

The Canada Water Agency’s current initiatives are:

– to restore and protect water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems

– to advance science, monitoring (including community-based monitoring) and the application of Indigenous knowledge in cooperation with Indigenous peoples to support decision-making and effective action 

– to improve collaboration with Indigenous partners, provinces and territories, and stakeholders 

– to mobilize knowledge and reporting to measure progress towards results

– to improve climate change resiliency through on-the-ground action

The CWA will be headquartered in Winnipeg, including five regional offices throughout Canada and comprise 220 employees when fully staffed.

Cutline:

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault (right) announced the creation of the Canada Water Agency in Winnipeg on Oct. 16 with Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

You could say that from an early age, Andrew Dirven had his priorities straight when it came to farming.

“One day I came home from school and saw that my family was harvesting,” the 21-year-old grain producer recalls. “So I ran inside and told my father that I did all my homework on the bus — which I definitely hadn’t done — just so I could ride in the tractor with my grandfather. I loved every second of sitting in that tractor, until the next morning when I actually had to do my homework on the bus!”

From that young age, Dirven realized that his third-generation family farm in Bainsville, Ont., was something special. And there weren’t many other careers he considered pursuing.

“It was an amazing childhood growing up on the farm,” Dirven said. “I was always fascinated with tractors and combines. And that fascination is still with me. Working alongside my family as a child developed a special bond. Being passionate farmers brought us together.”

The story of the Dirvens’ farm begins in 1977, when Andrew’s grandparents, Peter and Betty Dirven, decided to sell their farm in The Netherlands and relocate to Canada. It wasn’t long before their son, Nick, took an interest in the family business and started a multi-generational grain and cash cropping operation.

Today, the family — along with lots of help from Andrew — produces corn, soybeans and wheat under the name Spendrew Farms.

Located a mere seven kilometres from the Quebec border, it wasn’t difficult for Driven to realize that Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue was a great, nearby place to receive an agriculture education.

“Mainly, I wanted to go there just because of my passion for agriculture. But after I started, I realized networking was just as important,” he explained.

“Over my three years at Mac, I met a lot of people with the same interests as me, and a lot of those people have become my closest friends.”

Dirven enrolled in the Farm Management and Technology (FMT) program in the fall of 2021, discovering the finer points of soil science, cash cropping and agricultural economics.

“Cash cropping is a very dependant industry on the markets. Our grain prices fluctuate depending on supply and demand around the world,” he said. “There isn’t a lot of security or guarantee to what prices we’ll receive. Although our farm works hard on marketing by making futures contracts, setting targets and other marketing strategies, it still puts a lot of dependency on what’s going on globally.”

That’s what gave Dirven the thought of diversifying. Instead of relying on grain prices to determine the revenue of Spendrew Farms, there was money to be made providing services instead of just selling commodities.

“Since 2023, we’ve been offering custom harvesting and custom spraying,” Dirven said, referring to two tasks he has taken on himself. “I believe in the importance of diversification, having alternative income sources to allow our farm to have more security.” 

With initiatives like those, Dirven is definitely working more than full time on the family farm. Along with spraying and harvesting, equipment maintenance is also his duty at Spendrew. He knows that one day, he’ll be able to take over management of the whole farm — and is more than grateful for the fact that he was born into a family farm so he could pursue his dream.

“I wish for my future generation and other future members in the agriculture industry to have the same opportunities as I had,” Dirven said. “Opportunities to purchase land will be the biggest challenge for young farmers. With land being an appreciating asset, it’ll continue to be more expensive for the next generation. Not only will receiving approval for a mortgage to purchase the land be a challenge, but as well as being able to cash flow the payments.”

That’s part of the reason that family — and family farming — play such an enormous role in Dirven’s life and journey in the industry. For him, family working together is a strength that has to be experienced to be understood.

“Just growing up and watching my family work hard day and night together — to either complete harvest, or try to get the last field planted before the rain, or whatever the task might have been — it’s a level of passion that most people wouldn’t understand unless they lived it.” 

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

A new study shows that the vast majority of female farmers in Quebec – 90 per cent – suffer from high levels of stress as they struggle to balance farm tasks, family life and farm management.

“Women in agriculture hold an average of 5.1 positions in the business,” explained Valérie Fortier, president of Agricultrices Québec.

“The five main tasks are management and administration — such as strategic planning, business management, finance and accounting — tasks related to agricultural production, purchasing and supply, and human resources.”

In other words, female agricultural producers feel forced to spread themselves too thin over the many areas of farm production. The study, conducted by Léger, was carried out on behalf of the Fédération des agricultrices du Québec, a specialized federation of the Union des producteurs agricoles. The association was founded in 1987 to highlight concerns of female producers in the province.

“The results of the survey confirm what our members have been telling us for several years,” said Fortier, herself a dairy producer from Saint-Valère in Centre-du-Québec.

“The situation is worrying and concerns all of us, considering the fundamental and structuring role that women play in the agricultural sector in Quebec.”

Province-wide, 27 per cent of farm businesses are owned or co-owned by women. While female producers have made great gains in recent decades, figures show they also bear more than their fair share of the workload, particularly when it comes to paper work and financial management.

“Managing multiple tasks is the top source of stress that respondents report experiencing on a daily basis,” Fortier said.

In fact, 63 per cent of respondents said that multi-tasking and balancing roles was a key source of mental stress.

Other sources of stress include pressure for productivity (46%), financial problems (43%), family responsibilities (41%) and weather conditions (40%).

The situation can be even more challenging for young female producers (between the ages of 18 and 34), who are often juggling the work of supervising children while also managing farm labour.

“For younger women farmers, balancing domestic and professional tasks and reconciling work and personal life are the most important challenges,” Fortier said.

“Women farmers who have children in their household reported that the main challenges are balancing domestic and professional tasks, reconciling work and personal life, and salary conditions.”

Chief among the stressors and tasks often foisted upon female farmers are what sociologists call “invisible work”— work done within the family that may include household chores and personal care, labour performed for a family business, or caregiving for the older generation.

In November, the Les Agricultrices will launch a tool to quantify invisible work in agriculture. The data collected will be used to obtain gendered information on invisible work, to document the phenomenon and raise awareness among agricultural producers.

“Our programming at Les Agricultrices is a response to the mental stress-load issues experienced by women farmers that were identified in Léger’s study,” Fortier explained.

This year, the federation is offering members up to seven hours of free consultations with experts, including notaries, tax specialists, lawyers, agricultural management consultants, marketing-communications advisers and financial planners. Fifteen workshops on various themes along with entrepreneurial mentoring, personalized support and networking are also planned.

To find out more about what help is available from the Fédération des agricultrices du Québec, visit tellementplus.ca

Caption:

Valérie Fortier, a dairy producer from Saint-Valère and president of the Fédération des agricultrices du Québec, knows the type of stress women farmers are feeling. A new study reveals that female producers are carrying a very high stress load from managing multiple roles on the farm.

Credit:

Agricultrices Québec

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Maple Star Farm in St. Felix de Kingsey is definitely what you’d call a family farm.

“My brother takes care of the equipment and machinery maintenance; my sister, Trinity, takes care of the social media and sale advertisement of the farm,” explained 20-year-old Ruby Mastine.

“My father does a little bit of everything when it comes to the barns and fields, and my mother helps in the barns for the sheep as much as she can. Everyone has their own role in the business.”

The Mastines come by their dedication to family farming naturally. Ruby is part of the fifth generation to farm the land in St. Felix de Kingsey, just 60 kilometres north of Sherbrooke. What started out long ago as a dairy operation and sugar bush expanded to sheep production with Ruby’s grandparents in the 1960s. Today, parents David Mastine and Erika Brock own and manage the farm, selling lambs for meat all year long and winning multiple awards for their herd and livestock genetics.

For Ruby, sheep rearing has always been a part of growing up.

“One of the first farm memories I have is swinging in a swing that was hung in the barn for us kids while I watch my father feeding the sheep,” Ruby said.

“Seeing all of the ewes running to get their grain while their babies were running and playing up and down the straw bedding. My grandmother, Blanche, always said that if the lambs were playing, that meant they’re healthy. To this day I love seeing them run around, and that quote has always helped me spot when something was wrong.”

Ruby was a member of the Richmond 4-H Club for years, showing sheep, beef, participating in exchanges and even doing some square dancing. After high school graduation, she was uncertain if she wanted to take over the home farm or get a job doing something else in the agricultural sector.  

But she knew that enrolling in Macdonald Campus’ Farm Management and Technology (FMT) program would give her a head start on either path.

“Either way, I knew that the program would help me in the future with either choice,” she said. “I had several family members attend FMT before me, and they showed me the knowledge, friendships and opportunities that they received through it.”

Upon graduating in the spring of 2023, Ruby began working as a feed rep for Moulée Vallée Feeds in Richmond.

“So I ended up doing both,” she said. “Working on the home farm and getting a job elsewhere!”

Maple Star Farm boasts impressive numbers and achievements by any measure: 350 ewes (300 crossbreds and 50 purebred Suffolks) and many of them award-winners. The family won champion Suffolk ewe with a junior ewe lamb at the All Canada Sheep Classic this summer, also racking up three first-place showings in the four categories they entered.

Maple Star also won top terminal breed flock in Canada on the national genetic evaluation program in 2021. In 2022, the family sold the highest-bid Suffolk ram in all of Canada.

Recently, at the new generation’s initiative, the farm has expanded into beef production. In 2017, Ruby and brother Callum decided to purchase two Herefords from their cousins. Seven years later, they’re up to seven cow/calf pairs of purebred Simmentals and Herefords, and the project has made the siblings hopeful about expanding.

“For now, they are an enjoyable hobby,” Ruby said. “However, I would like to one day expand to a larger production of beef to diversify the farm more.”

Through all the hard work and deserved accolades, Ruby Mastine is a confident and determined producer, able to eloquently articulate the challenges of farming for the new generation.

“The weather has always been a farmer’s worst enemy, and it gets worse every single year,” she said.

“With the excessive amount of rain we received last year in Quebec, it made 2023 and 2024 very difficult,” she said. “Expenses have increased immensely since the pandemic, and now they’re doubling over the years due to weather.

“This is a part of farming that the world does not see: it takes a long time to recover after one bad spring/summer, one bad season costs you a lot for the next year. This pushes producers to have to sell sometimes. How are we going to feed the world by 2050 with these weather and economic issues that producers are facing?”

Cutline:

Ruby Mastine of St. Felix de Kingsey in the Eastern Townships has grown up in a successful sheep-producing family. In 2017, she and her brother decided to add Simmentals and Herefords to their family’s fifth-generation farm.

Credit:

Courtesy Ruby Mastine

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Quebec government has announced it will provide $1 million to fund technological innovation in horticulture in a move it hopes will help agricultural producers address issues of climate change, environmental practices and labour scarcity.

The Ministre de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) made the announcement late last month, stating that it hopes to offer producers in the market gardening, greenhouse, apple, potato, and strawberry and raspberry sectors “concrete technological solutions,” like robotic machinery, automated tools or intelligent sensors.

“More than ever, research and development of technologies must be systematized in agriculture to increase the robotization and automation of fruit and vegetable production in Quebec,” said Agiculture Minister André Lamontagne. “These are foundations on which prosperous and competitive companies will develop, for a sustainable and modern agri-food sector and greater food autonomy.”

The Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec, the province’smarket gardeners group, welcomed the announcement, saying the funding will address key issues in Quebec horticulture and prepare the sector for a future where labour shortages are increasingly acute and automation is seen as the best solution.

Automation is key

“Mechanization, robotization and automation remain little integrated in horticultural farms,” said Catherine Lefebvre, president of APMQ. “Companies still rely heavily on the workforce, which accounts for up to 50 per cent of their total costs.”

The APMQ will receive a sum of $760,000 to evaluate technologies aimed at increasing the automation of horticulture production and optimizing the use of pesticides and inputs.

Each horticulture sector – market gardening, greenhouse, apple, potato, and strawberry and raspberry production – will select and test a new technology identified by producer associations as most likely meeting that sector’s needs.

For Quebec market gardeners, that new technology is the Ecorobotix ARA precision sprayer, considered today to be the most precise in the industry.

Already in development and use for 20 years, the Ecorobotix ARA is a semi-autonomous sprayer that allows for a finely-targeted application of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides or fertilizers. The operation of the sprayer is based on algorithms specific to each crop, can be operated remotely, and is able to operate in strong wind conditions thanks to a protective curtain system.

Equipment will be loaned

The province’s greenhouse, apple, potato, and strawberry and raspberry sectors are yet to identify the respective technologies that they will test out through the new program. The $1 million in funding is intended to finance the creation of an evaluation protocol and the implementation of the evaluations in the field. Equipment will be loaned out during the trial and evaluation periods, not purchased.

The project is being carried out between the horticulture producer associations along with the Réseau d’expertise en innovation horticole (a centre of expertise founded to democratize and speed up the adoption of horticulture technologies) and Quebec non-profit La Zone AgTech.

“In the past, there has been no overall vision to develop a strategy for adopting new technologies and to build bridges with technology transfer centres and developers,” Lefebvre said, citing this as a reason the Quebec horticulture industry needs to foster greater use of new technologies to meet its challenges.  “This is where the (Réseau d’expertise en innovation horticole) can act.” 

Quebec’s market gardening and fruit sector includes more than 4,700 producers. In 2023, the sector  generated revenues of nearly $1.47 billion.

Cutline:
Five of Quebec’s horticulture sectors have been given the chance to test out new technologies that will help their production thanks to new funding. The Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec will be testing out the Ecorobotix ARA precision sprayer, a semi-autonomous sprayer that can be run in remote locations with no Internet signal.

Credit:
Courtesy Ecorobotix

Andrew McClelland

The Advocate

Staff at Macdonald Campus’ Farm Management and Technology program say their fall enrolment numbers are down slightly from last year, but that it’s still too early to determine if it’s a direct impact of Bill 96.

“Have our numbers gone down? Yes. This year, only 31 (students) instead of around 40 showed up on Day 1,” said Pascal Thériault, director of the FMT program. “How much of it is due to government policy? Hard to say.”

When the Quebec government introduced Bill 96, its update to the Charter of the French Language, it stipulated that students attending English CEGEPs would have to take five courses in French.

While FMT is run by McGill University’s Macdonald Campus, the program is considered a CEGEP-level offering. As such, explains Thériault, FMT is not affected by the controversial tuition hikes for out-of-province students in Quebec universities.

But the program is affected by Bill 96’s introduction of more French-language courses in English CEGEPs.

“The new language regulations might have had an impact and scared away a few students, but it is hard to put a number on it because our student numbers tend to vary from year to year,” Thériault said. “We had to turn away about six Ontario students whose French level would not have made it possible for them to meet the necessary French requirements.”

Bill 96’s new changes do not require that students have a certificate to attend an English institution. But they do impose a quota on the number of non-certificate holders. FMT is excluded from the quota as its students are considered McGill students.

“FMT is funded to train future Quebec farmers who are native English speakers,” Thériault said. “Our recruitment efforts have always been geared toward that clientele, whereas francophones attending the program have been a minority that is always welcome since we do value diversity it all its forms.”

Tuition hikes cause uncertainty

The other issue causing uncertainty at McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is Quebec’s announcement of tuition hikes for out-of-province students.

When the Quebec government initially announced the tuition hike, it proposed an increase from $8,992 to approximately $17,000, causing an outcry from both the province’s English-speaking community and prospective students from the rest of Canada.

That increase has since been lowered to a minimum rate of $12,000, but with a catch: out-of-province students will need to be able to demonstrate a level-five oral proficiency (an ability to carry on a basic conversation) by the time they graduate.

The decision sent shockwaves through McGill’s recruiting department, says Valérie Orsat, acting dean for Macdonald Campus.

“The number of applications from Ontario significantly dipped,” Orsat said. “We had to reduce our recruiting activities in Ontario, as the feedback from their high schools was not positive: ‘If Quebec does not want us, we shall not apply.’”

Nonetheless, McGill’s Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is seeing a healthy enrolment. Admissions from Canadian high schools in the department are the same as last year’s.

“Overall, our incoming numbers for this fall for our B.Sc. or B.Eng. programs are similar to last year’s numbers,” Orsat said. “Although our applications from the rest of Canada were significantly lower than last year’s.”  

Everywhere in Canada, enrolment in agricultural programs at the post-secondary level is struggling. The fact that Mac has been able to maintain high enrolment numbers is exceptional.

“There is a general trend in ag colleges in Canada where numbers are not on the rise,” Thériault said. “That’s a concern, as I believe we must attract more people to the ag sector.”

Decreasing enrolment in agriculture education is a worrying sign for a variety of reasons, Thériault said.

“Training future farmers is one thing, but the FMT program also trains agricultural technologists who help farmers to make our agricultural sector more resilient, better prepared for climate change and to help them meet social expectations on issues such as pollution, pesticide use and animal welfare. There will be more and more need to offer support for those farmers in the future.”

Cutline:

FMT students at Macdonald Campus receive hands-on training.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The federal government announced earlier this month that it is taking measures to crack down on what it calls “misuse and fraud within the system” of the temporary foreign worker program.

That could mean serious changes in Canadian agriculture: in 2023, just over 70,000 temporary foreign workers were employed in primary agriculture industries in Canada, and just over 45,000 worked in related food and beverage manufacturing industries.

While not singling out agriculture, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonnault spoke out on Aug. 6 against employers taking advantage of the program.

“Abuse and misuse of the (temporary foreign worker) program must end,” Boissonnault said. “The health and safety of temporary foreign workers in Canada is a responsibility I take very seriously. Bad actors are taking advantage of people and compromising the program for legitimate businesses.”

Changes and possible changes

The biggest change will be the government enforcing a rule that sets a 20-per-cent cap for low-wage temporary foreign workers. That would mean that low-wage workers that applied through the temporary foreign worker program could make up no more than 20 per cent of a Canadian business’ workforce.

So far, that cap does not apply to agriculture. But should Ottawa choose to be more stringent, it could have drastic impact for many Quebec and Canadian farm businesses, many of which rely on workforces made up of foreign workers to pick fruits and vegetables.

The cap also applies to workers enrolled in what is called the “dual intent sub-stream,” which applies to temporary foreign workers who intend to apply for permanent residency. While workers hoping to use their work period in Canada as a springboard for permanent residency wouldn’t be limited, their employers would be subject to stricter guidelines.

Employment and Social Development Canada says the temporary foreign worker program is designed “as a last resort for employers to fill jobs for which qualified Canadians are not available.”

Under the program guidelines, an employer must pay for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for approval, demonstrating there is a need for a foreign worker to fill a position for which no Canadian worker or permanent resident is available. Boissonnault says that fee might increase so that further checks and investigations could be made.

Ottawa also says it’s looking to implement future changes regarding employer eligibility. An employer applying to the program would have to have a minimum number of years of business operations or make its history of lay-offs known.

Boissonnault’s announcement on Aug. 6 could be in reaction to a UN report that denounces the temporary foreign worker program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

That report followed a fact-finding mission conducted by UN observers in Ottawa, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver last year and was tabled on July 22.

“The temporary foreign worker program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” the UN report states.

Protecting workers

All effected and proposed regulation changes to the temporary foreign worker program are intended to protect a potentially vulnerable labour force. Employment and Social Development Canada notes that fines for infractions against the program increased by a marked 36 per cent. 

Statistics Canada says that between 2005 and 2020, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canadian crop production, animal production and aquaculture sectors more than tripled.

However, few of those workers succeed in gaining permanent residency. Figures show that after five years of work in Canadian agriculture only slightly more than 10 per cent of temporary foreign workers obtain permanent residency. After 10 years since workers were first employed in the sector, the cumulative transition rate reaches only 16.8 per cent.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Canada’s agiculture ministers announced the introduction of a grocery store code of conduct, improvements to the AgriRecovery program and a levelling of the playing field between local and imported products at a meeting in Whitehorse this summer.

The annual summer gathering of federal, provincial and territorial agiculture ministers allows the country’s top agriculture decision-makers to come together and, hopefully, harmonize regulations and programs across all levels of government.

This year’s meeting, held from July 17-19 in the Yukon capital, yielded the announcement of $1.2 million towards the creation of a “Grocery Code Adjudication Office.”

This grocery store code of conduct will operate as a non-profit organization funded by dues collected from grocery supply-chain stakeholders. The Grocery Code Adjudication Office will act as a referee and publicly report violations of the code.

“This will definitely bring more predictability, transparency and fairness among the (supply) chain, and a mechanism to resolve conflict,” stated Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne, who has been instrumental in bringing about the creation of the code in the wake of food price increases.

At the meeting, ministers announced that Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Walmart and Costco had agreed to abide by the code, which should come into effect in June 2025. Sobeys operates IGA stores in Quebec.

Level playing field

Lamontagne also advocated for harmonized regulations between local and imported products, saying Quebec products have to compete with American and other imports while living up to more stringent environmental and health regulations.

“Our agricultural and processing businesses are facing more and more constraints and are constantly making efforts to meet environmental and social requirements,” said Lamontagne, adding that he is pleased with the commitment of his fellow ministers of agriculture to support Quebec’s request to explore ways to ensure that imports meet standards equivalent to those that apply to local products.  

Risk programs

Lamontagne and other provincial agriculture ministers also made recommendations to improve AgriRecovery, the federal and provincial governments’ aid framework designed to help producers get back on track after adverse weather and crop failure.

Ministers stated that within the context of climate change, AgriRecovery needs to be made to work faster and take into account that different types of production need different types of support.

“We don’t think it’s productive across the country to have a program have to fire up and be specialized each time,” said John Streicker, minister responsible for agriculture for the Yukon. “We’re looking for something to be more predictable across the board.”

Lamontagne also said he was pleased with an action plan submitted by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Pesticide Management, stating that he is in favour of weaning Quebec producers off synthetic pesticides and promoting alternative methods of pest management.

The 2025 annual meeting of ag ministers will be held in Manitoba and chaired by Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Work has begun on the Quebec government’s project to build more than 100 new cellphone towers in regions of the province that have poor reception or no signal at all, representing an investment of $170 million.

Premier François Legault made the announcement earlier this summer, noting that the first phase of the CAQ’s high-speed connectivity plan built 79 cellphone towers by the spring of 2024.

“I am very proud of the work accomplished so far to improve cellular coverage and I am delighted to be able to offer all residents, no matter where they are, a quality of life that lives up to what we have the right to expect in Quebec,” said Legault in an official release.

The plan seeks to address the danger of not having cellular reception in some of Quebec’s most remote areas, including a lack of reception for 9-1-1 and other emergency services.

On the North Shore, portions of routes 138 and 389 are still beyond the reach of any cellular network.

In 2022, a 22-year-old woman from the Minganie MRC (north of Anticosti) discovered she was outside any zone of cellphone reception following a near-fatal car accident. The incident highlighted the need for a speedy construction of new cellphone towers across the province.

“In 2024, it is unthinkable not to have a cellular network across the entire territory of Quebec,” said Legault in an announcement made on June 28. “It is a matter of the safety of citizens and visitors, but also of the dynamism and economic development of the region.”

In 2022, the provincial government mapped out what it called “cellular deserts” in Quebec, determining that anywhere from 400 to 700 antennas would be needed to eliminate these dead zones.

Under phase 1 of Quebec’s high-speed ​​internet and special connectivity plan, 84 new cellphone towers were projected to be built. The government’s latest announcement adds an additional 100 towers to the overall project plan, and will extend coverage in the regions of Bas-Saint-Laurent, Mauricie, Estrie, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laurentides and Centre-du-Québec.

“The regions that will benefit from this new infrastructure will quickly see the difference,” said Gilles Bélanger, MNA for Orford and parliamentary assistant for high-speed Internet and special connectivity projects. “Where their citizens could feel isolated, we are improving daily communications. For both leisure and work, this extended cellular coverage will make life easier for those in the areas concerned.”

The vast majority of the cellphone towers will be constructed by Videotron, Sogetel Mobilité, and TELUS. Quebec says construction is expected to be completed by 2027.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The provincial government has announced a new envelope of $4 million to encourage Quebec consumers to buy their food directly from agricultural producers.

But if you’re an agri-business owner, act fast! Project submissions for the program are open until Oct. 31, 2024 – or until funds run out. That means the earlier you submit a proposal, the more likely you are to receive funding.

“I’m very happy with this new support, which will promote local marketing and help bring consumers even closer to those who feed us,” said Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne during the “Mise en marché de proximité et agrotourisme” announcement on May 31.

 “The supported projects will make it possible to offer Quebecers even more fresh, quality products. I invite businesses and business groups from across the province to submit their projects.”

The Mise en marché de proximité et agrotourisme 2024-2026 program is designed to support local marketing and agritourism initiatives, both collective and individual (i.e. both individual producers and collective agri-businesses may apply). Producers, businesses, public institutions, co-ops and non-profit organizations can put forth a plan to shorten the supply chain between producers and consumers and bring farmers and the public closer together.

“Local marketing is an important development lever both for bio-food companies and for (rural) regions,” the government claimed in an official statement. “It makes it possible to support joint planning for the marketing of local products or to finance projects aimed at better positioning a company’s products on local markets.”

While projects like starting up a community-supported agriculture food basket program or building an on-farm kiosk are eligible, Quebec’s Proximité initiative can also fund carrying out planning, diagnostics or studies for an agri-business, designing marketing material, or simply provide money for organizational support.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, one in five agricultural businesses in the province sells directly to consumers, either in a public market, through the sale of CSA baskets or directly from the farm gate.

The Quebec government wants to increase those numbers, encouraging more non-farmers to purchase products from producers directly, or from artisanal processors existing outside the traditional distribution networks of grocery stores.

To qualify for the Proximité program, an individual or farm business must have an annual gross revenue greater than $30,000 and less than $1 million.

In response to criticism from earlier versions of the program, applicants with a current gros annual revenues of less than $30,000 are now deemed eligible if the marketing plan they submit shows that they plan to generate an annual income of at least $30,000 within 36 months of submitting their application.

Quebec also says that it has included “an increase in financial aid for projects targeting organic products as well as for those involving an emerging agricultural business.”

With local market season having just started, MNAs from across the province are stepping up their vocal support of farmers’ markets and farm gate sales.

“Summer is just around the corner, and it’s the perfect time to discover the best in agriculture, anywhere and nearby,” said Audrey Bogemans, MNA for Iberville. “Let yourself be surprised by the richness of the terroir and the authenticity of the producers. Everyone will benefit, even your taste buds!”

Applicants to the Proximité program should submit their applications as soon as possible, as previous provincial programs of this type have run out of funds well before the official application deadline.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Designating soil as a “strategic national asset” is one of 25 recommendations put forward by the Canadian Senate agriculture committee to protect the soil structure on Canadian farmlands in a report issued earlier this month.

“We do not have another 40 years to protect and conserve our soils,” said Senator Robert Black, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, as he unveiled the new two-year study entitled “Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human and Social Health” on June 6.

The report, which took two years to compile with on-site tours and presentations from farmers, ranchers, research scientists and government officials, recommends that the federal government appoint a national soil advocate.

It is the first substantive study of soil produced by the Senate in four decades, when in 1984, Saskatchewan Senator Herb Sparrow put forth a report entitled “Soil at Risk: Canada’s Eroding Future.”

That report was key in the Canadian farming industry’s adoption of no-till farming. Since then, soil management has improved in Canada and crop yields have increased. But the country’s soil faces new challenges.

“Climate change, extreme weather events and urbanization are degrading soil conditions in every region of this country,” said Black, who previously worked for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture for 15 years. “We need to look at this strategically because it is an important issue.”

The latest study gathered information from more than 150 producers and considered 60 written briefs, along with supporting documents from soil science researchers, agronomists, farmers, ranchers, foresters, environmental organizations, agri-businesses, industry groups and federal, provincial and territorial governments to make its recommendations.

Chief among those recommendations is the proposal that Canada change the public conversation about how vital soil is to the nation’s health and economy.

“Soil is a valuable natural resource,” states a leading paragraph in the 160-page report. “The Government of Canada should designate soil as a strategic national asset. Other countries, such as Australia, have appointed a national soils advocate; the committee believes that the Government of Canada should do the same.”

The report also suggests that Canada’s current methods for measuring soil health are not advanced enough. The committee called on the federal government to collaborate with the provinces and territories to support the development of a consensus on how to measure, report and verify soil health.

It also recommends that farmers and ranchers should have access to “viable and valuable carbon markets,” be eligible for tax credits for soil preservation action, and that the government fund peer-to-peer knowledge sharing groups.

“To protect and conserve farmland soil throughout Canada, the committee heard that all levels of government … should work together to plan agriculture into, and not out of, communities,” the report states.

Witnesses also said that building soil-based incentives (tax credits for farmers, enhanced crop insurance, a viable carbon market), as well as sustained funding for soil research initiatives is imperative for producers’ prosperity.”

However, the Senate Committee on Agriculture notes that the problem of protecting Canada’s soil goes deeper than that: much of what threatens soil in this country is the lack of awareness on the part of the public about how precious soil health and agriculture are.

“We need to be changing the perception of farmers in our children and youth,” said Carolyn Wilson of the Canadian Young Farmers’ Forum in her address to the committee. “Some of the initiatives that Agriculture in the Classroom is doing include bringing young farmers into high schools or elementary schools — where the students are able to see that face, and think: “This could be me. It’s not just my grandfather, my uncle or what have you.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Sometimes the early childhood memory of being on the farm is enough to set your path in life. And for 20-year-old Travis Larwill, growing up on the family farm in Buckingham, Que., in the Outaouais region was full of such memories.

“I remember sitting in the cab with my grandfather on hot days and hauling grain from the combine,” Larwill recalled.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always wanted to farm. Just hearing my grandfather’s stories and talking with him and my grandmother, seeing my dad farm, made me love it so much. It gave me a passion to want to grow the farm.”

Larwill is the seventh generation of his family to work the land in Buckingham, which is now part of the municipality of Gatineau. His grandfather made the decision to wrap up the family’s dairy operation and focus on cash-cropping when Travis was a toddler, keeping the young aspiring farmer busy with the annual wheat and grain crop.

Larwill is an only child, and that came with a lot of attention from his father and grandparents —and the knowledge that he had to take on his fair share of the workload.

“It was pretty good,” Larwill said, before adding: “and then sometimes you wish you had a brother to spread the work around with!”

Opted to enroll at Mac

When it came time to decide what to do after high school, Larwill knew that he didn’t want to stray too far from the family farm. He wanted to be able to get back on weekends to help his father, Randy Larwill. Macdonald Campus, a “short” 150 kilometres away, seemed like an ideal fit.

“My grandfather had done some agricultural classes, but I’m the first one from my family to go into a university program for farming,” Larwill said. “I always wanted to have more education after high school in agriculture and I had friends who raved about how great Mac was.”

In the fall of 2021, Larwill enrolled in the Farm Management and Technology program. While the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic required that students remained masked at all times, he was able to attend in-person classes and meet members of Quebec’s larger English-speaking farming community.

For many students at FMT, the highlight of the program are the required internships, where students stay for weeks at a time with another farm family across the country. For Larwill, that meant heading to Marquette, Man., about 50 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, where he worked with Jeff and Chris McMillan. It was an eye-opening trip.

Internship opened eyes to possibilities

“I drove out there,” Larwill said. “At first you see a bit of bush in eastern Manitoba and then it just opens up till you see nothing but prairie farmland.”

Larwill’s family farm never had any livestock during his childhood, but seeing a Manitoba dairy, beef and cash-crop operation allowed him to have a hint of what animal tending is like.

“I saw a completely different way of farming,” he said. “Helping with beef and dairy, making feed – it was great to get experience on all those things I had been studying at Mac.”

That experience gave Larwill an idea to diversify his family farm back home: if he started building a small herd of sheep now, it could be a great way to use the family’s vacant dairy barn — and add a new revenue stream to its operations.

“At first, I thought getting into beef would be best,” Larwill said. “But it was too expensive and sheep was an operation you could basically run by hand.”

Larwill had his first lambing season this year. He describes it as a “pretty good start” with all the enthusiasm of a young producer excited to apply the theory he had learned at school on the farm.

“It was definitely a steep learning curve. But any time I was stuck, I could go back to my books and get most of the answers for what I needed to do.”

For Larwill, the family farm, which also includes 650 acres of cash crops, is the obvious place to stay. His father is still working and ready to share his experience.

“With the prices these days, just getting land is so hard if you want to start in agriculture. I made great farm connections with people at Mac, and we have the land here. After that, knowing people is often the best tool we have.”