Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
One of the great benefits of growing a family farm is that it can set the next generation up in business and in life. And for 19-year-old Sonia Auger, the farm life – and the business side of it – suits her to a tee.
“Something I really like about farming is the time I get to spend with my parents,” Auger said. “We might be in the barn looking at some aspect of the enterprise and then we can discuss it again at breakfast to find solutions.”
And help from the family is needed at the Augers’ dairy operation, where Sonia grew up. Nestled in the small town of Ste. Françoise, about 50 kilometres north of Victoriaville, the Augers milk about 115 cows. Along with raising all their heifers and cash cropping on the side, the family mainly grows feed for the dairy herd on a total of 250 hectares of land.
It’s a tall order. And Sonia has been helping since as long as she can remember.
“I’ve been doing a lot of little jobs since I was a kid,” Auger said. “I enjoyed going to work with my parents — and felt like I was really helpful at that time! And over the years, I’ve been assigned to more important responsibilities than just feeding the cats and scraping the stalls.”
These days, Auger is the family point-person for calf feeding and keeping health reports. She also takes on much of the field work during the spring and fall rush periods, along with managing the summer hay harvest.
Part of her long-term plan
Auger knows that she wants to spend her life on the farm. And she also knows that that means keeping up with technological and production changes in the world of farming. That’s why she enrolled in Macdonald Campus’ Farm Management and Technology program (FMT) after high school.
“Being on the farm helps me create a strong passion for farming and the idea of spending the rest of my life in the agricultural sector is what pushed me to apply for the FMT,” Auger explained.
Before applying to Mac, Auger spent a month in Victoria, B.C., at an intensive English-as-a-second-language school. The experience was so rewarding, it made her hungry for more.
“After that, I decided I wanted to pursue my studies after high school in English, learning something I am passionate about,” she said.
When Auger started at Mac in 2023, being a francophone student had its challenges. But she overcame the hurdles.
Overcame language barrier
“It was hard for the first three weeks to get used to learn in English,” Auger said. “Some challenges were about communication — how to interact well with people when you don’t fullyunderstand what’s been said or not being able to find the right words. But after a couple of mistakes and a couple of tries, you get used to it and the language is not a problem any more.”
In fact, learning in an English-speaking academic environment was so much not a problem for Auger that she was awarded a Warren Grapes scholarship at the QFA’s 2024 annual general meeting — an accomplishment that surprised her and left her very thankful.
“I was mainly grateful to all the people — the teachers, family and neighbours — around me who support me every day. Not only in my studies, but also in my projects and ambitions,” Auger said.
Those projects and ambitions are considerable. After graduation, Auger hopes to continue her education at McGill by going into Agro-environmental Sciences so that she can help other agricultural producers in business and production management.
Looking to the future
“What I think about farming today is not what people were thinking about farming years ago,” she said.
“I think more about planning ahead and trying to understand the population trends and conflicts around the world, so that farmers can find opportunities to base their production upon. One of the biggest challenges about global farming today is the changes in demand and crop needs or animal products needs because of the growing population in the cities. Farmers will have to adjust their rotations and their future plans to fulfill the needs of those people.”
And her ambition of one day returning to the family farm?
Auger’s mother and father, Guillaume Auger and Monika Fitze, are fully in support of their daughter gathering experience off the farm so that she can one day operate the business the way she wants — and keep the family farm going strong.
“My family is really open-minded. We all know it’s important to have experiences away from the home farm,” Auger said. “I think, and my family thinks, that this path I’m on will help me bring the farm to the next level of sustainability and profitability one day.”