Andrew McClelland

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.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Canada’s commissioner for the environment and sustainable development has accused Agriculture Canada of falling behind in meeting its goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

In an official report issued April 30, Jerry DeMarco, the commissioner appointed by the federal government to provide an independent analysis on its environmental and sustainable development issues, heavily criticized Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s climate policies and monitoring efforts.

In his “Agriculture and Climate Change Mitigation Report,” DeMarco put emphasis on the Agriculture Ministry’s lagging efforts in developing a plan to reduce emissions from nitrogen fertilizers and suggested the industry needed to shape up fast.

“Given the current climate crisis and limited results thus far, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will need to ensure that all its expected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for 2030 take place in the six growing seasons that remain,” said DeMarco in a press release that accompanied the report.

“The department has so far achieved less than 2 per cent of its 2030 overall greenhouse gas reduction target,” the commissioner stated.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay thanked DeMarco for the report and outlined what steps his ministry would take to meet climate goals in the future.

“There is no doubt we need to do more to help the agriculture sector reduce emissions, and quickly,” MacAulay said.

In his response to DeMarco’s criticisms, MacAulay outlined the steps his ministry has taken to ensure Canada’s agriculture industry contributes to the nation’s overall goals in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, citing the funding of 14 research labs across the country and the creation of two programs to help farmers adopt more sustainable farming practices.

“Since 2020, the Government of Canada has announced over $1.5 billion in funding to advance climate change mitigation in the sector,” MacAulay said, “including the Agricultural Clean Technology Program, the Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs Program and the On-Farm Climate Action Fund.”

The federal agriculture minister also pointed out both its “Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership” (Sustainable CAP), a series of programs and activities cost-shared between Ottawa and the provinces, and its “Sustainable Agriculture Strategy,” a long-term plan that it hopes will help bring together action on climate issues in agriculture.

Programs included in both are voluntary for producers. DeMarco noted that such funding programs were flooded with applicants and were delayed by a year in disbursing payments.

“The department’s delays in funding approvals resulted in recipients missing a growing season,” the commissioner wrote, “which limited the greenhouse gas reduction results achieved….”

In his report, DeMarco notes that agriculture accounts for 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have been increasing since 1990. Agriculture remains a major source of methane and nitrous oxide, which are potent greenhouse gases. Between 1991 and 2021, the sector’s emissions have risen by nearly 40 per cent, driven by increased crop production and fertilizer use.

Those figures are still below the greenhouse gases emitted by Canada’s oil and gas industry (28 per cent), transportation sector (22 per cent), buildings (13 per cent) and heavy industry (12 per cent), prompting MacAulay to defend the efforts the country’s farmers are already making in the fight against climate change. “Being on the front lines of climate change, they have felt the devastating effects first-hand, from droughts to wildfires to floods,” MacAulay said in a statement, referring to producers. “Canadian farmers work hard every day to produce the best products in the world and are already making significant efforts to be more sustainable.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

When Ottawa announced the federal budget last month, few agricultural groups were impressed. Citing a lack of investment in a key sector of the economy, both the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture spoke of their disappointment in the lack of support the budget offered to agriculture.

Now, many observers are also saying that while the government’s plan to increase the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) will benefit many producers, it could also introduce a heavier tax burden onto the younger generation of Canadian farmers.

The latest federal budget unveiled in April introduced the government’s intention to increase the LCGE to apply to up to $1.25 million of eligible capital gains, an increase from the current level of $1.016 million , which is indexed to inflation.

“This in and of itself is a positive development,” said the CFA in an official statement, noting that the government’s decision was consistent with the CFA’s budget recommendation “to increase the capital gains exemption threshold above $1 million to be more in line with current market farmland values.”

But the good news stops there, say industry observers. Because those same changes could make it even harder for families to transfer their farms to the next generation.

“This may make it a little bit harder on the incoming generation to generate the cash flow to have funds available to pay out mom and dad,” said Ryan Kehrig, national leader for agricultural tax with accounting firm MNP.

In a podcast hosted by RealAg Radio, Kehrig explained that the increased exemption for capital gains could put younger agricultural producers in a position where they feel obliged to pay more taxes to ensure their farming parents have a comfortable retirement fund.

“Let’s say mom and dad want to have X amount of dollars to fund their retirement, and they plan on selling the farm to the farming kid — to the successor. They’re going to gift anything over and above that number that they want to have here,” Kehrig explained.

“If they want to have, say, $3 million after tax, they’re probably going to have to sell more share equity to their kids at capital gain rates to trigger that $3 million after tax.”

But with a larger equity share being purchased by the successor at capital gain rates, the incoming generation of farmers will feel the pinch.

“So for the farming kid, there’s probably going to be more ‘skimmage’ — taxes being paid to the government — to leave mom and dad in that position.”

Kehrig’s concerns over how Budget 2024 will impact young producers is the same as CFA’s. The national farmers’ federation predicted the increase in the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption “could play at odds with CFA’s policy objective of creating a more favourable tax environment for young generations of farmers seeking to the enter the sector.”

The federation says that a more detailed analysis of the potential implications for Canadian farms and farm succession planning is required.

But for analysts like Kehrig, the new budget certainly isn’t a cause for celebration for producers who are looking for a break when taking over the family farm.

“There’s a short, immediate impact in terms of succession planning here,” Kehrig said. “And I do see it being a tightening for the younger generation in that regard.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

For anyone not involved in agriculture, the words “family farm” often bring up images of a simple life with a few hens and cows and picturesque buildings on the homestead.

But farm families, like the Egans in the town of Low, north of Wakefield in the Gatineau hills, know that running a family farm is a tough business that constantly requires innovation.

“We try to run a very tight ship,” said 20-year-old Ory Egan. “We take genetics seriously and do our research on our bulls and stallions to ensure we get the best quality offspring.”

It’s a statement Egan — who represents the sixth generation to farm his family’s land in the Outaouais region — makes with pride. 

Any visitor to “Egan Home Farms” will see a lot of Simmental cattle. The family calves 180 a year, keeping full blood Simmentals, commercial Simmentals as well as F1 females crossed between Simmental and Red Angus.

The family – including Ory’s father, Kelvin Egan; grandmother, Leith Egan; mother, Christina Thompson; and sister, Kendall Egan – takes genetics very seriously, working together on the cattle herd along with keeping 20 Percheron draft horses.

“Growing up on the farm was great. I’ve always enjoyed the horses and cattle,” Egan said.

“I remember leading one of our draft horses across the yard with my dad beside me. The mare looked gigantic since I was so small, and I really thought it was crazy how I was able to walk with such a big animal who was so calm and nice.”

Life on the Egan farm was full of hard work and fun: going on sleigh rides, feeding horses and cows, calving cows, foaling mares and working on equipment in the winters. Summers were spent in the hay fields, or moving mares and cows to different pastures, and going to horse shows.

When high school graduation came about, it didn’t take long for Egan to decided that enrolling at Macdonald Campus of McGill University in Ste. Anne de Bellevue was the right thing to do.

“I thought it was important to continue schooling in agriculture, since it would allow me to improve on my strengths and weaknesses,” Egan said. “As we’re focused on livestock at my family farm, cropping was one of the main things I wanted to learn about.”

And learn he did in Mac’s Farm Management and Technology program. Enrolling in the fall of 2021, Egan benefited from the program’s internship component by going to work on a whole different scale of family farm, the “Anchor D Ranch, run by the Skeels family of Rimbey, Alberta.

“It was just a great experience,” he said. “They’re one of the best Simmental breeders.”

“My boss, Dan Skeels, took me in for the summer and treated me as if I was a part of their family,” he added.

Egan stayed out West for 13 weeks, liking it so much that he extended his trip to join the family for a cattle show and getting a chance to travel to British Columbia and see the Rocky Mountains.

Egan finished  the FMT program just this semester. But already he has some great ideas for the family farm in Low.

“I’d like to begin selling some of our heifers privately – both our full-blood replacement heifers and commercial replacement heifers,” he said. “I believe that we have great quality in our cows and would like to give the opportunity to them to go to other farms and show what they have to offer.

“I also think it would be a great Idea to put some focus in cropping,” he continued. “As the saying goes, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, and we do have both cows and horses. However, I believe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to diversify even more and add crops to our farm.”

But whatever the future holds, this enterprising young farmer is grateful to have come from a family farm.

“You have more reason to be hopeful when your family already has a farm and you are able to take it over,” he said. “I feel bad for young people trying to begin farming and who are starting from scratch. Everyone knows it is not at all easy to get into, nor to be able to afford.

“I do believe that all young farmers can have a future. However, they really have to love what they’re doing. The ones with established farms will have a head start as they will have the knowledge and the capital to continue and or start out.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

It looks like the 2024 maple syrup season will be a record-breaking one for Quebec producers, as early warm weather started the sap flowing in February and luckily kept it going into the spring months.

“We were done by March 17^th, but we had more than enough made,” said Walter Last, a cow-calf, lamb and maple syrup producer from Poltimore in the Outaouais region.

The trend of an early-but-bountiful harvest was repeated throughout Quebec, as surprisingly early warm weather started most taps flowing around Feb. 10. While some producers were caught unprepared, and all worried that the early season wouldn’t last, early predictions agree that the 2024 season will likely be the most productive on record.

“We could end up with a production equivalent of a season and a half — maybe even the volume equivalent of two (average seasons),” said Joël Vaudeville, communications director at Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec (PPAQ).

The provincial maple syrup producers federation only tabulates final production data by May, typically making that information public by June. But already, the quantity of syrup harvested in 2024 has surpassed the 35.5 million litres produced across Quebec last year.

See MAPLE, Page 12.

MAPLE: 2024 season could set new record

From Page 1

And that’s welcome news for the province’s maple industry. The lacklustre 2023 season, which brought in only 124 million pounds, resulted in Quebec’s “Global Strategic Reserve,” the federation’s reserve of surplus syrup kept in storage to insure against poor harvests, being reduced to 6.9 million pounds.

This 2024 bumper crop will allow the province’s maple syrup industry to replenish the reserve to its comfort level of around 100 million pounds — if not more.

Global warming, global reserve

For David Hall of Hallacres Farm in Lac Brome, the fantastic 2024 season is both a result of good weather conditions and improvements in the industry.

“What surprised us most is that the sap ran early and it ran hard,” said Hall, who also serves as president for the Montérégie-Est syndicate of the PPAQ. “We had a good February, a great March and finished just yesterday,” he told the Advocate in an April 9^th interview.

Hall recalls the previous record-breaking season of 2022, when each of his taps averaged a 5.75-pound output. This year, the average per tap on his 22,000-tap operation is 6.3 pounds.

“The difference is that we as an industry are ready for it now,” said Hall, explaining the number of record-breaking harvests recently enjoyed by Quebec’s maple producers.

“If you’re in the business, you should be ready by Feb. 10^th, and able to keep going until around April 15^th. That’s the reality now.”

Hall has been involved with maple syrup production his whole life, representing the fifth generation of his family to farm the ancestral land he owns. He’s seen weather trends change and production techniques improve to harvest a lot more than the family business did during his childhood.

“When we still used buckets, we used to start sugaring the 15^th of March,” he said. “But buckets dry out, and you’d get dirty spouts that were hard to clean even with a good cleaning regime. Now, vacuum tubes have changed things, and sugar houses have heating in them. So there are a lot of factors at play in our infrastructure that have improved harvests.”

The province’s overall production will further improve over the next few years due to the fact that the Quebec industry will welcome 739 new maple syrup businesses, due to the issuance of 7 million new taps under the supply-managed system.

Those new businesses will enjoy good harvests provided they can be adaptable and at-the-ready when the sap flows. For producers like Hall and Last, each harvest season is a new ball game, where farmers are left guessing when the sap will start flowing from one year to the next.

“In 2023, we had stopped collecting by the date we hadn’t even started the year before,” Last said. “So you never know what kind of season you’re going to get till it comes.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Quebec government has granted more than $7.4 million to finance projects by nine agri-technology innovation companies from different regions across the province. 

The companies that will benefit from the funding were announced March 14 by Quebec Economy, Innovation and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon.

The largest single amount from the $7.4-million envelope was awarded to Montérégie-based robotics designer SAMI Tech. The company will receive $2 million to work on improvements on a robotic machine that harvests broccoli. 

First manufactured in 2021, the device consists of a farm tractor pushing a machine with robotic arms installed on both sides to pluck broccoli from the field. SAMI Tech hopes the robotic harvester could also be used for asparagus, celery, cabbage, weeding or for crop inventory in the field.

“Our government is committed to investing in agri-technology companies to help them implement innovative solutions specific to their sector,” said Fitzgibbon, who is also minister for Regional Economic Development and minister responsible for the Montreal Metropolitan Region in the CAQ cabinet. “I am convinced that this is how we will create more wealth for all of Quebec.”

Opti-com Solutions, a tech company based in St. Eustache that specializing in artificial intelligence, communications technologies and risk management, was also awarded a large sum. The company will receive nearly $1.8 million to design an air-disinfection and greenhouse-gas-and-odour-reduction system for pork and poultry operations.  The system will use ultraviolet light and be operated through intelligent remote control. 

Other recipients of funding are a Quebec City-based company developing a multipurpose “biopesticide” hoped to promote sustainable agriculture and replace chemical pesticides, a Montreal tech firm designing a humidity-management system to improve energy efficiency and plant production in greenhouses, and a Sherbrooke company creating a prototype of robotic equipment for precision mechanical weeding of root vegetables.

The $7.4-million announcement follows a call for projects launched by the Quebec government in the fall of 2022 to encourage the development of agricultural technologies adapted to the challenges of the farming industry. It is part of the CAQ’s larger Strategy for Research and Investment in Innovation aimed at supporting investments and the commercialization of business innovations over the five-year period from 2022 to 2027.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Quebec’s Fédération de la relève agricole has launched a new social media campaign to point out the stress and strain caused by uncertainty for young producers in the farming industry.

Taking to Facebook and Instagram with the sarcastic hashtag #maistoutvabien (#everythingisfine), the FRAQ hopes to highlight the distress facing young producers in an industry where Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada forecasts a 49.2-per-cent drop in net farm income in 2023 and an 86.5-per-cent drop in 2024.

The social media movement was unveiled at the federation’s annual meeting on March 15 in Longueuil, where outgoing FRAQ president Julie Bissonnette spoke of the frustration of seeing governments undervalue agricultural work.

“During my presidency I was able to see that young farmers everywhere share the same dream:

that the premier would speak of agriculture as a real, concrete project for society,” Bissonnette said.

Pointing out double standard

“Why is it that developing, say, an electric car battery industry is considered a plan for the future — a great collective project — but when it comes to investing in agriculture, we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel?”

At the heart of the FRAQ’s social media campaign is the income crisis forcing many young producers to take on a second job and make enormous personal and financial sacrifices just to stay in business.

FRAQ-affiliated producers took to social media, posting photos of themselves holding signs that air their grievances.

“I work for free to feed the world,” one said.

“I took out a second line of credit to start the 2024 growing season,” reads another, each accompanied by the hashtag #maistoutvabien, which the FRAQ hopes will catch on as other young farmers are invited to post similar photos.

Forced to get an off-farm job

Currently, almost half of Quebec’s young farmers must work part time or full time in addition to their work on the farm to ensure the survival of their businesses.

With climate change directly attacking their production and access to financing limited to investment programs that encourage taking on huge debt loads, Quebec’s young farmers are facing an unprecedented crisis.

“It’s as if it’s become ‘normal’ for us to work off-farm jobs while managing a full-time business,” said David Beauvais, FRAQ’s incoming president and a sheep producer from the Eastern Townships. “Meanwhile, we’re never been able to take a vacation and are operating at the breaking point. Would that be considered ‘normal’ in any other sector of the economy? I highly doubt it.”

The FRAQ says its ironic hashtag #maistoutvasbien was inspired by a phrase too-often heard by young Quebec producers when explaining the present income crisis to politicians and decision-makers, who insist that despite their hardships “everything is fine!”

More than words needed

Meanwhile, says the FRAQ, young producers looking to start out are facing enormous increases in land prices. Meanwhile, government spending on agriculture still accounts for only one per cent of the provincial budget.

“Food autonomy shouldn’t just be a slogan,” Bissonnette said. “It should be a set of concrete actions aimed at supporting the entire agricultural network from the work in the fields to the meals on our tables.”

Cutline:

Anouk Caron, a producer in the Eastern Townships: “I work for free to feed the world! #maistoutvabien #FRAQ #quitravaillegratos?”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Avian flu has been discovered at a commercial poultry operation in the Outaouais region, in the MRC of Papineau, causing the death and euthanization of approximately 17,000 birds.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported the case Jan. 3, noting that the contamination is “unusual” during the winter season. The case is the first confirmed in the Outaouais since 2002.

“It’s surprising us to have cases (of avian flu) in winter,” noted Martin Pelletier, director general of the Équipe québécoise de contrôle des maladies avicoles (EQCMA), a non-profit that works with government authorities to prevent and control diseases in the poultry industry.

“The farm was right in front of a lake where a pump ensures that the body of water doesn’t freeze,” Pelletier told the French-language daily Le Devoir. “It attracts waterflies. With a surface that is not frozen nearby, there is a greater chance that (wild) birds will winter near us (and contaminate domestic birds). That’s an obvious risk factor.”

The case was detected at Abattoir Charron, a family-run commercial poultry slaughterhouse in St. André-Avellin. Approximately 30 employees had to take a leave of absence from work while the facilities were sterilized.

As is customary in cases of avian flu, the federal food inspection agency has declared a wide radius around the site of contamination a possible infection zone. The wilderness as far as Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix to the north and North Nation Mills to the south is included in the agency’s “primary control zone.”

See AVIAN FLU, Page 4.

AVIAN FLU: Number of birds affected by flu in Canada hit 10-million mark this year

From Page 1

“We are very surprised. We know the company is careful in its procedures, in its protocols,” said Jean-René Carrière, mayor of St. André-Avellin, in a interview with Radio-Canada.

“We thought we were safe. Then, we realized that no one is safe. If there are regions that have been spared until now, redouble your efforts: you never know when (the flu) will arrive in your area,” Carrière said.

Biosecurity authorities are particularly worried about a new virulent strain of avian flu that can be transmitted from wild birds, like ducks, to domesticated fowl. Unlike earlier strains of the flu, the virus survives in cold weather and seems to find lakes and wetlands a fertile breeding ground.

The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec is quick to point out that avian flu is rarely transmitted from birds to humans. In the rare cases when it is transmitted, the virus usually infects people who work in the poultry industry — either on farms, in slaughterhouses or at live poultry markets.

Since 2022, avian flu has caused the death of more than 1 million farmed birds in Quebec. Across Canada, the number of affected animals exceeded the 10-million mark this winter.

Decades ago, outbreaks of avian flu were known to flare up across the globe but would dry up with dryer weather in days or hours. However, this seasonal type of flu has now reached the point where avian flu is now endemic in European countries. The H5N1 strain has been detected in 76 countries in 273 breeds of birds.

There are currently 58 outbreaks in Canada, most in the province of British Columbia.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay wrapped up 2023 with an ambitious trade mission to Vietnam, Japan and South Korea — countries that many agricultural economics experts predict will make up the world’s fastest-growing export market in the coming decades.

MacAulay, a veteran Liberal cabinet minister who also served as agriculture minister from 2015 to 2019, travelled to the Indo-Pacific region in November to meet with key industry groups, facilitate new business opportunities for Canadian exporters, and promote Canada’s agri-food products.

“We want their business, MacAulay said, who serves as MP for the riding of Cardigan on Prince Edward Island. “We want to provide more and we want to produce more. That’s simply where we are.”

Currently, Canada exports nearly half of its agriculture production to the region.  In 2022 alone, Canada’s agriculture and agri-food exports to the Indo-Pacific totalled $21.8 billion.

But Ottawa sees even more opportunity for growth when looking at the surging population of these overseas markets. It is estimated that by 2030, the Indo-Pacific is likely to make up two-thirds of the world’s middle class — and over half of global GDP by 2040.

“It’s very, very interesting to look at Vietnam and its population, as well as Korea,” MacAulay said. “These are markets that are certainly available to us. And as the population and demand expands, that means the requirement will be bigger, so we want to be there.”

The federal ag minister’s trip was highlighted with key business meetings with government officials in each country.

While in Tokyo, MacAulay joined the Team Canada Trade Mission led by Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development. The mission included 160 organizations from Canada, with 17 of them coming in the agricultural sector. 

In Seoul, MacAulay announced more than $23 million in funding for Canada’s agricultural industry stakeholders under the AgriMarketing Program. That program is designed to help major food producers and exporters build ties overseas and diversify the range of Canadian products available around the globe.

“When I first became minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food in 2015, our agricultural exports were $56 billion,” MacAulay said. “As I return to the portfolio, we’ve increased that number to over $92 billion. My goal is to continue to grow our exports. And that starts with opening markets and creating opportunities for our hardworking Canadian farmers.”

Ottawa is also attempting to bolster the presence of Canadian agriculture overseas by opening the first-ever Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office, planned for Manila, Philippines. No date has been set for the office’s opening, but the federal government has pledged $31.8 million to its development and construction.

MacAulay’s trip is part of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, unveiled by the Liberal government in November 2022. The strategy’s main priorities include expanding trade and strengthening and diversifying Canada’s economic partnerships through investment and supply-chain resilience.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Five generations is a long agricultural legacy. And 19-year-old River Morse of Hatley, in the Eastern Townships, knows that it’s a special benchmark for any farm family to reach. It’s an achievement that is one of the main joys of his life. And one that he aims to keep going.

“My first memory of being on the farm is of riding along with grandpa in the tractor while feeding cows,” Morse recalled. “Growing up, I would spend most of my days off school with my grandparents, helping out with chores around the farm.”

Morse grew up with a firm sense of his family’s farming history. His great, great grandfather Samuel Morse started the farm that the family still works today. Pork and dairy were the mainstays of production until grandfather Delmar sold the dairy herd to get into beef in the mid-1980s.

“I was raised on the family farm alongside my grandfather,” River explained. “It was him and my dad who started our beef operation. Growing up there allowed me to learn so many life skills, like having a strong work ethic, perseverance and determination.”

Growing purebred herd

That’s how the family business, Sonmar Simmentals, was born.The Morses currently calve 100 to 110 cows on a yearly basis, focusing on highly maternal cows that raise competitive calves for the seedstock industry. They have a growing herd of purebred Angus and Simmentals that River and his father, Jason, hope to expand in the coming years.

“Moving forward, I’d like to expand our purebred side of the enterprise and focus on genetic advancement with functional cattle,” he said.

Morse started participating in events with his local 4-H Club when he was 8 years old and never looked back. For the past two years he has served as the club’s provincial director. His involvement has afforded him opportunities, like interning for a summer in Forestburg, AB., (just east of Red Deer.) He credits 4-H with teaching him valuable life lessons and is eager to mentor farm kids in the way he was mentored.

“The 4-H program has shaped me into the individual I am today,” Morse said. “It’s taught me that nothing is given for granted, and if you want to be successful, you must outwork every other competitor. Luck isn’t given. It’s earned!”

Collecting prize ribbons

And Sonmar Simmentals have earned quite a few prized ribbons with its herd over the years, thanks in no small part to that work ethic and attention to genetics. A heifer that Morse and his father purchased out West last winter was named Grand Champion Female at both the Ayer’s Cliff Fair and Cookshire Fair last summer.

And the honours didn’t stop there.

“My fondest memory growing up would probably be just this past fall in receiving the honour of Supreme Champion Bull at the Expo Boeuf (in Victoriaville),” he said.

A month later, one of the family’s purebred bulls also made it among the top five finalists in the Supreme Champion Bull hunt at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

“It was a remarkable experience being with a bull we bred and own — something my father has been doing for 30 years — and then finally being able to celebrate that moment with him and the family!”

Morse enrolled in the Farm Management and Technology Program at McGill University’s Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue in the fall of 2021. Last November, he was one of five students to win a Warren Grapes Agricultural Scholarship from the Quebec Farmers’ Association.

“I actually heard about the award from my friends and my father,” he said. “So I decided to apply with no intentions of winning. I was very honoured when I received the email to discover I was selected as a recipient.”

Looking to the future

These days, Morse is thinking ahead to graduation, hoping that he can one day return to the family farm while also working off-farm in the ag industry. He knows that the challenges faced by future farmers are considerable, but he’s never been afraid of hard work.

“It’s certainly going to be a challenge for young farmers to be able to progress in today’s world, but I believe my generation has the vision and ideas to continue to progress in this industry,” he said. “The cost of production is rising in all aspects of the agriculture industry, so we have to find other ways to reduce the cost or eliminate it.”

Morse seems poised to progress in his chosen vocation of farming, with both an optimistic mindset and the dedication to achieving his goals.

“I believe the non-farming public needs to better understand the day-to-day life we live. Without agriculture, the world would have a lot of empty plates come meal time. For many of us, it’s a passion that drives us to get up every morning and do the same thing over and over. I strongly encourage farms to have tourism to encourage the public to come see what the farming community does and why. Take the time and tell your story.”

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

La Financière Agricole du Québec is answering the call of thousands of agricultural producers to provide relief money as inflation and a wave of extreme weather events have left them struggling to make ends meet.

On Nov. 23, Quebec Minister of Agriculture André Lamontagne announced an increase of $10 million to La Financière’s annual budget. That brings the total amount of relief funds up to $25 million, generating liquidity of $167 million.

“This announcement demonstrates our determination to ensure the sustainability of our agricultural businesses,” Lamontagne said.

“The enhancement of the Programme Investissement Croissance Durable (Sustainable Growth Investment Program) and the modification of its parameters will allow companies to receive financial assistance based on their turnover,” Lamontagne said in a statement. “We will continue to work collaboratively with partners to finalize the analyses of the 2023 season.”

La Financière is also reviewing the terms of that program to provide support based upon the revenues of each farm business.

The 2023 season has been particularly hard on Quebec farmers, with heavy and prolonged rainy periods making harvesting nearly impossible in some regions.

In August, the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) set up a special committee to suggest changes to existing programs to help producers meet the cost of production.

In early November, André Fortin, agriculture critic for the Quebec Liberal Party, told the National Assembly that La Financière’s programs no longer met the reality of the province’s agricultural economics.

“It is urgent to review our programs to offer support to those who feed Quebecers,” said Fortin. “We need solutions adapted to their new reality. Our food autonomy and security depend on it.”

Key changes to aid program

The key changes to the Sustainable Growth Investment Program are follows:

• Eligible businesses benefit from a 10-year working capital loan guarantee with no capital repayment for the first three years.
• The period for submitting an application for the “Working Fund” component is extended by one year (until March 31, 2025, or until the amounts are exhausted), whichever comes first. So apply early.
• The financial assistance granted can be no more than 15 per cent of the value of the working capital loan.
• As of Oct. 31, 2023, 426 businesses obtained a working capital loan from the program, for a total value of nearly $21 million.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

There’s a reason why so many successful farm businesses are also family businesses.

Through the decades, the knowledge and passion for agriculture are passed down, giving each generation a solid foundation to build upon and leaving room for some improvement.

You can’t find a better example of that business model than the Crack family of the Eastern Townships. And 21-year-old Savannah Crack is very aware of the benefits she’s reaped by coming from a dairy family.

“I’m very grateful,” Crack said, speaking on a rare break from work at the family farm in Cleveland, Que. — just a few kilometres east of Richmond in the Eastern Townships. “It is extremely, extremely, extremely difficult to get into this business if you don’t come from a dairy farm family, if you don’t have quota already.”

But it’s more than just quota and assets that Crack is grateful for. From a young age — looking up to her father, David, and grandfather, “Butch” Crack — young Savannah was aware that every day on the farm was part of an agricultural education.

“I always associated the farm with family,” she said. “It was always: ‘We’re going to see Grandpa!’ And my brother, Kolton, and I learned a lot of tips and tricks of the trade over the years when it comes to animal handling.”

It was, in fact, Savannah’s great grandfather, Gordon Crack, who founded the farm in 1967. The next generation — represented by grandfather “Butch” Crack — took Crackholm Farm into the world of dairy cattle genetics, a passion that Savannah and her younger brother Kolton share to this day.

Started with 4-H

That passion started young as Savannah became a devoted 4-H member. Soon she was showing Crackholm heifers at locals rallies and fairs and setting her sights on the TD Classic at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair in Toronto.

“I was 12 the first year we went,” Crack said. “And I’ve gone every year ever since — except the year they didn’t have it during COVID.”

The TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic competition requires participants showing their cows to have already shown in four other rallies that year in order to qualify. So life for the Crack family often consists of practicing the finer details of cattle showing and, of course, loading up the cattle trailer to make it to a regional show or national competition.

“It’s normally me, my dad and brother in the truck when we head to the Royal,” Crack explained. “Along with the trailer, holding our cows and pretty much anyone else’s from the region who is showing in Toronto that year.”

Wins racked up

And the Crack family has racked up quite the impressive trophy collection in the past few years. Just this year their Holstein “Midas-Touch Montery 1127-ET” won first place for Best Udder in the 4-Year-Old category; another placed third in the Spring Heifer category; in 2022, the family brought home the First Prize Female ribbon in the Junior 3-Year-Old category.

“My brother and I generally do pretty good at the Royal,” said Crack with characteristic understatement.

“Although every year, nothing goes according to plan. I’ll have a heifer who behaves well in every other show ring, and then when we start showing at the Royal, she won’t walk. There’s always something that’s off. Every calf that I’ve shown.”

But any setbacks in showing don’t seem to be affecting Crack’s success. In October, she won the Merle Howard Award at the 56^th World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, (where she also won the Junior Showmanship Contest in 2015, by the way). The award is the highest recognition a youth showperson can receive at World Dairy Expo — and Crack is the first Canadian to ever win it.

FMT grad

But you won’t hear Crack gloating — or even mentioning — those awards and honours in conversation. Instead, she’s more focused on her integration into working full time on the family farm, having graduated from Macdonald Campus’ Farm Management and Technology program in April of this year.

“Every day, I get up and milk, feed my dry cows, go back for breakfast, then check on the heat, check on the cows that don’t feel good and she who needs to be vet checked,” she said, with a tone that reveals this young farmer has no fear of hard work or long hours.

“What makes me feel good is when I can sit down at my computer and look at the data and see that our cows are hitting a 40-kilo average,” Crack said. “That makes me proud. And that’s what makes me feel really good about farming.”

Cutline: Savannah Crack of Crackholm Farm in Cleveland, Que., has shown a lot of cattle. In October, the 21-year-old became the first Canadian to ever win the Merle Howard Award at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Quebec Liberal agriculture critic André Fortin is calling for the provincial government to completely revise its farm support programs in the wake of inflation and adverse weather due to climate change.

“The reality of today’s farmers has changed a lot,” said Fortin, who also serves as the MNA for Pontiac. “Climate change, the meteoric rise in production costs and inflation are making their lives extremely complicated and too often leading them to consider abandoning production.”

The 2023 growing season has certainly been a trying one for Quebec’s agricultural producers, with extreme weather events and high amounts of rainfall making production unpredictable, particularly for market gardeners. Those factors are creating financial havoc for farmers, and Fortin says many of his constituents are saying the existing insurance programs offered by La Financière agricole du Québecno longer address their needs.

“We need to review our agricultural insurance programs,” wrote Fortin in a post on his official Facebook page on Nov. 2. “They are old, clunky, hard to navigate and are most certainly not adapted to the reality of farming in 2023. We have to protect our farms better.”

La Financière could probably attest to that fact itself. For the 2022-23 fiscal year, it paid out a whopping $287.1 million in support to stabilize the income of agricultural producers. That’s is more than double compared with the 2021-22 fiscal year’s total of $119.6 million, and substantially above the $198.9 million paid out in 2020-21.

See LA FINANCIÈRE, Page 4

LA FINANCIÈRE: For some, it has been wettest summer ever

From Page 1

For producers like Rob MacWhirter from Gaspé, the extreme weather events of the summer of 2023 led to never-before-seen troubles.

“Our haying was really out of whack this year,” MacWhirter said. “It rained intermittently and then there were rains like monsoons. It was just ridiculous. And there was so much damage to the fields.”

MacWhirter’s family beef operation cuts hay on about 300 acres in Hopetown, about 10 kilometres east of New Carlisle on the Gaspé coast. For him and his family, getting dry hay in the barn was nearly impossible.

“In all of July and August, we had two narrow windows of four days each where we had west wind and sun,” he said. “And we were in such a rush to get the early hay in and wrap it that the quality is low. It didn’t get dried down to where it should’ve been.”

As a result, MacWhirter’s operation found themselves doing their first cut of hay at the beginning of September, indicating a full month of waiting for dry weather.

“It’s certainly the most rain we’ve had in a summer in my lifetime,” he told The Advocate. “And my dad is 90 years old, and he said the same.”

In response to reports like these from producers, Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne held a meeting with the Union des producteurs agricoles on Nov. 9 to hear what a special committee created in August by the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) could do to adapt to increased inflation and adverse weather.

La Financière had already made adjustments to the calculations and coverage offered by its Crop Insurance Program (known as ASREC) to provide emergency support to producers. But now, it says, an in-depth review of ASREC is being conducted to see how it can be changed to align with increasingly unpredictable weather, inflation and climate change. A completely revised version of the program is expected to launch some time in 2024-25.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Union des producteurs agricoles has voiced its concerns about how the provincial government will implement its “Plan Nature 2030” — Quebec’s far-reaching consultation and planning project that will determine how it will preserve biodiversity and protect 30 per cent of its terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems by the beginning of the next decade.

The producers’ union wants to make sure that agricultural and forestry producers are involved in the development and implementation of that plan. And chief among its concerns are protecting the agricultural zone and ensuring that environmental regulations work in tandem with ag production.

“The protection of biodiversity through the conservation of 30 per cent of Quebec territory by 2030 — the Quebec government’s Plan Nature 2030 — must not be done to the detriment of agricultural activities,” said UPA president Martin Caron. 

The UPA also wants there to be consistency between federal and provincial strategic plans that promote biodiversity and also between the different plans put in place by the government of Quebec. That includes Quebec’s Sustainable Agriculture Plan and Ottawa’s Agricultural Climate Solutions Program.

Farms already doing their part

The union listed its demands in a consultation document sent out to UPA members in October. Those included that “the publication of the Plan Nature 2030 be made once the government guidelines for agricultural protection have been established,” while also noting that “practices beneficial for biodiversity are already in place on farms,” such as the use of agricultural landscaping, windbreak hedges and cover crops.

The UPA is also concerned that the Plan Nature could lead to much agricultural land in the green zone being lost should it be re-zoned as conservation areas. That, says Caron, could lead to further sacrifices made by the agriculture industry in the name of sustainable ag development and biodiversity protection.

“The government of Quebec must clearly reaffirm that all agricultural areas are important and suitable for agricultural and forestry activities, regardless of their classification,” said Caron, noting that since 1998, Quebec’s agricultural zone has been losing the equivalent of 12 football fields of arable land per day due to areas being classified as “non-agricultural” territories for everything from the drainage of municipal lands and right-of-way usage.

Zero net loss of farmland

“(Quebec) must also curb urban sprawl and the growing use of the ‘non-agricultural usage’ legislation, while introducing the principle of ‘zero net loss’ in green zones,” Caron said, adding:  “That is to say no new loss of agricultural or forestry area.”

The UPA’s demands include that there be “zero net loss” in the green zone, requesting instead  that the implementation of the Plan Nature 2030 “respect the principle of zero net loss for the agricultural zone and defend the agricultural zone from conversion into a conservation zone.”

The CAQ government announced the creation of the Plan Nature in December of last year, following the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at the end of the 15^th conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (aka, the COP-15), held in Montreal in 2022.

The plan has a budget of $650 million to be used over seven years to protect and restore biodiversity, encourage sustainable practices, act on factors of biodiversity loss and collaborate with Indigenous communities and civil society to conserve biodiversity.

That collaboration has recently taken the form of an extensive series of public meetings conducted throughout October and November by the Regroupement national des conseils régionaux de l’environnement du Québec (the National Network of Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec or RNCREQ).

Financial support for farmers needed

UPA representatives have been following and participating in the consultations, citing that it wants new investments for research to find innovative solutions to increase agricultural productivity while improving environmental quality. It also asks for financial support for

agricultural and forestry producers implementing practices beneficial to biodiversity, along with funds for technical support, training and awareness.

Described as the largest investment in land protection and biodiversity in the history of Quebec, the Plan Nature 2023 should be launched at the beginning of 2024.

Montérégie producer wanted to be worthy of being part of family operation

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

Sometimes, coming to the realization of what you want to do in life comes slowly, after trying out a number of career options. And sometimes, it just hits you like a tonne of bricks.

It was definitely a tonne-of-bricks moment for Alexandre Verdonck. He grew up in Ste. Marthe, about 70 kilometres west of Montreal, on the farm his grandfather bought in the 1950s. A farm kid all his life, some of his earliest memories are of tending to the land.

“My first memory of working on the farm is probably when I was 5 or 6 years old, helping my parents pick rocks in the fields with my brother,” the 24-year-old said. “It isn’t much, but it’s a good introduction of learning to do long, hard work with no salary for long-term benefits.”

Agricultural entrepreneurship runs deep in the family. Verdonck’s grandfather and great-uncle formed the company, Belcan, which sold alfalfa cubes and fertilizer. In 2001, Verdonck’s father, aunt and uncle, combined resources and land to form Groupe Stell-Ag, growing corn, soybeans, wheat and peas for the Bonduelle food group.

But still, Verdonck wasn’t sure agriculture was for him.

“I was kind of a lost kid in high school,” he said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do growing up.”

As graduation loomed, Verdonck found himself casting about for a career path and reflecting on his future.

Looking for direction

“I guess it was because of my lack of maturity at the time — I never really saw farming as an option, even though it had been staring at me my whole life,” he explained.

“Suddenly, I felt a calling to pursue my career in hopes of one day taking over the farm business, and hopefully becoming worthy of it.”

That calling sent him to the Farm Management and Technology program at Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Although he was a farm kid, Verdonck said the ag knowledge of many of his peers was a bit intimidating.

“I’d be lying if I said that I was anywhere near the level of competence of some of my peers when we started the program,” he said. “These ambitious farmer kids, who had been involved in their farm business probably since they were able to hold a shovel, really opened my eyes. I still admire them to this day.”

Verdonck graduated from FMT in 2019, and then continued on at Mac in Agricultural Economics, a degree he felt he needed to become a successful farm manager in the current climate.

Wanted to gain a better edge

“I wanted to gain an edge with how to manage my farm better with regards to global events,” Verdonck explained. “Wars, pandemics, political conflicts — so many factors affect farming in relation to input and output prices, and the ability to adequately market commodities through unstable supply chains.”

With two degrees under his belt, Verdonck has returned to the family farm, working the 2,000 acres Groupe Stell-Ag has in crop production and helping with expansions. Recently, the business has started a broiler operation with a 23,000-bird-capacity barn.

“This is a very new field for us since we’ve never had animals before,” Verdonck said. “So it’s an adaptation to say the least. The goal was to diversify the enterprise and not rely so heavily on grain for our source of income.”

Stell-Ag is also currently switching over to a no-till system on its acreage and has begun acting as the local dealer for Environmental Tillage Systems, a project in its infancy that the Verdoncks hope will also diversify their revenue streams.

Alexandre has come a long way from not knowing if agriculture is right for him. But after proving himself worthy of making a huge contribution to the family farm, he’s also become a capable and articulate producer with much to say about the future of farming.

Support needed

“I think farmers just want support from non-farming people rather than criticism,” he said.

“We don’t necessarily need people to know the difference between a grain combine and a forage harvester, what a corn tassel is, or even why biosecurity is important in a poultry barn, but just a general understanding that we are dealing with big enterprises that depend on many factors in order to survive. A bit of gratitude for the food you enjoy every day is all we ask.”

Cutline: Alexandre Verdonck of Ste. Marthe felt he needed a solid foundation in production techniques and agricultural economics before returning to work on the family farm. “Events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have had major effects on the prices of grain, fertilizer, fuel and other commodities that our farms depend on,” said the 24-year-old.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Lucyporc cutting facility in Yamachiche just west of Trois-Rivières will close its doors for good on Nov. 17, leaving 74 workers out of work.

The announcement was made by parent company Viandes Robitaille in early October. The Lucyporc factory specialized in preparing the “Nagano” pork line — Quebec-raised-and-butchered pork designed specifically for the Japanese market. According to Viandes Robitaille plant manager Carl Robitaille, the decision to cease operations was based on currency inflation in the destination markets.

“The very difficult decision to close the plant comes from the reduction in demand for pork products for export,” said Robitaille. “We just have to look at the price of the yen. The ability of the Japanese to pay a good price is more difficult.”

While Viandes Robitaille said the Lucyporc facility was doing well, the age of the building — and the fact that its equipment is more than 30 years old — meant its closure was a necessary choice.

Quebec pork giant Olymel has a variety of facilities in the Trois-Rivières region, including those operated through partnerships with groups like Viandes Robitaille. Workers from the Lucyporc plant will be well-positioned to find employment at “Olymel de Yamachiche.”

“From a workforce and operations perspective, Olymel de Yamachiche is able to fully serve the Japanese market with Olymel and Oly-Robi products,” says Richard Vigneault, Olymel’s corporate communications manager. “Oly-Robi employees from the former factory will be able, given their experience, to apply for a position in the meat sector at Olymel.”

Included in that group are approximately 50 temporary foreign workers, some of whom have been in the country for a little over a year and are still in training.

Troubled times

The Lucyporc factory has shifted operations and parent companies a few times in recent years. In 2015, the facility merged operations with provincial pork giant, Olymel. In 2019, all employees were transferred to the nearby “Atrahan Transformation” processor. Then, in October 2021, Viandes Robitaille formed a partnership with Olymel, resulting in the reopening of the Lucyporc building.

The Lucyporc closure follows the announcement of another in July of the closure of the Olymel factory in Vallée-Jonction, in the Beauce region. That plant is scheduled to close on Dec. 22. In that case, an additional 50 foreign workers will be transferred from Beauce to Yamachiche, more than 200 kilometres away.

“What we want is for these workers to rediscover the pleasure of working with us, but in another region,” said Olymel vice-president Paul Beauchamp.

The many plant closures and workforce transfers point to the global pork crisis resulting from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising input costs and a drop in demand. Olymel claims it has lost $400 million in the past two years alone.

In February, the company also announced the closure of processing plants in Blainville and Laval. And in November, it announced the closure of a factory on St. Jacques Street in St. Hyacinthe. Olymel has remaining facilities in Yamachiche, in Ange-Gardien (Montérégie region), and St. Esprit, in Lanaudière.

While Viandes Robitaille’s Lucyporc building will close Nov. 17, the slaughterhouse in Yamachiche will remain open.

Cutline: The Lucyporc pork processing plant operated by Viandes Robitaille in Yamachiche will close Nov. 17, eliminating 74 jobs, the company announced in early October.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The federal government is teaming up with the province of Ontario to offer maple syrup producers in that province an envelope of $1 million to help increase productivity, efficiency and growth in the maple industry.

The Maple Production Improvement Initiative is aimed at boosting Ontario’s maple production by covering up to 50 per cent (to a maximum of $20,000) of costs on improvement and expansion projects. But it does not have producers in Quebec too worried, at least according to one syrup producer.

“Our government appreciates the resilience and determination of maple syrup producers throughout Ontario and how they have continued to build a solid market for their maple syrup products,” said Lisa Thompson, Ontario’s minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “This investment … will drive increased production, supporting specific growth targets.”

To be eligible, Ontario producers must have had 1,000 taps in operation since April 1, 2023. The money can be used for the purchase and installation of upgraded production equipment, like reverse osmosis or remote monitoring systems, which help reduce boiling time and save on fuel costs.

Funds from the initiative can also be used to cover a portion of certain woodlot management activities, including tree marking and the development of a forest plan to assist business operations.

Federal Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay was on hand for the announcement, which took place in Toronto on Sept. 26.

“Ontario’s maple syrup producers continue to deliver exceptional products that are enjoyed here in Canada, and around the world,” MacAulay said.

While the initiative will be administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, it has not yet been disclosed how much of the support money will be provided by the federal government and how much by its provincial counterpart.

Sizing up the competition

The Maple Production Improvement Initiative shows Ontario’s ambition to capture a more significant portion of the maple syrup market. Currently, Canada produces 71 per cent of the world’s maple syrup — and 91 per cent of that is produced in Quebec. 

“Ontario has a tremendous opportunity to grow its maple syrup sector,” said Randal Goodfellow, president of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association. “Whereas Ontario has the largest number of maple trees in Canada, only a very small percentage of this number is used for maple syrup production.”

But some Quebec maple producers aren’t that worried by the prospect of Ontario taking a larger share of the maple pie. As Morgan Arthur — who has been running his maple operation in Rockburn, Que., in the Châteauguay Valley since 1989 — explained, the forests of Ontario simply don’t have the same concentration of maples as Quebec.

“Yes, they have a lot of maples,” said Arthur. “But when you go there and see how spread out those trees are, you realize you’d need an awful lot of land to have a good syrup operation.”

Furthermore, the price of land in Ontario maple-producing areas like Lanark and Lennox and Addington counties has skyrocketed in recent decades due to development of the growing populations of Ottawa and Toronto.

In 2012, Arthur himself expanded into Ontario, at one point with 26,000 taps in Madawaska, just east of Algonquin Park. But he realized the venture could never be as profitable as his Quebec forests.

“I was an Ontario maple syrup producer,” he said. “But, in the end, it made more sense to sell my land. And the people who had the cash to buy it were multi-multi-millionaires.”

Today, Arthur’s operation in Quebec boasts 26,000 taps — 19,000 owned and 7,000 leased. And while he acknowledges that Maple Production Improvement Initiative gives Ontario producers some support, it won’t be enough to tip the balance in today’s market.

“The fact is $20,000 doesn’t go very far in getting set up in the maple business these days. I have a neighbour who just got into production and putting in 2,200 taps cost him $180,000.”

Since the initiative is part of Ottawa’s Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, which came into effect April 1, Ontario producers seeking funding can retroactively apply to have costs covered as of that date. Program applications close Nov. 9.

Eligible costs run the gamut from purchasing sap collection pumps, coolers and evaporators to generators, filters and packaging and labelling equipment.

Andrew McClelland
The Advocate

The Canadian government will pay out $333 million over the next 10 years to dairy processors and producers to offset market losses resulting from international trade deals.

Newly re-appointed federal minister of agriculture Lawrence MacAulay announced late last month the creation of the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund, a compensation package designed to “help the Canadian dairy sector adapt to new market realities.”

Through the fund, for-profit dairy organizations can apply for financial support for a whole host of activities, from purchasing new equipment to constructing new facilities.

“This fund will help the sector manage the growing surplus of solids non-fat, create more opportunities for dairy processors and farmers, and build a more sustainable dairy sector,” said MacAulay at a press conference held in St. Hyacinthe on Sept. 29.

Canada is facing a growing surplus of “solids non-fat” (SNF), the remaining component once cow’s milk is processed. The fat is removed for use in products like butter and cream. Canada’s limited processing capacity for SNF has meant that dairy processors and farmers are losing out on turning the component into a money-maker.

The new fund will be managed by the Canadian Dairy Commission on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“The Canadian Dairy Commission is committed to addressing the challenge of structural surplus of solids non-fat,” said Gaspé-based dairy producer and CDC chair Jennifer Hayes. “By supporting innovation and investments into medium to large-scale projects to add value to SNF, the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund will help improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the Canadian dairy sector.”

The federal government hopes the injection of $333 million into the dairy industry will help operations take on large-scale projects that will “modernize, replace and/or increase processing capacity for SNF and minimize skim milk that is not marketed.”

“The dairy sector is an integral part of Canada’s economy and rural landscape, supporting strong and vibrant communities across the country,” said Francis Drouin, MacAulay’s parliamentary secretary. “This new fund will drive innovation and increase processing capacity, enabling the sector to stay competitive by maximizing the full value of solids non-fat.”

Trade losses

The launch of the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund comes hot on the heels of Canada losing a dairy dispute with New Zealand.

Both countries are signees of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Eighteen months ago, New Zealand filed a complaint with the agreement’s arbitration panel claiming that Canada was not allowing access to its dairy exporters. Just last month, the panel ruled in favour of New Zealand.

The fund also builds on the compensation packages announced by then-minister of agriculture Marie-Claire Bibeau in November 2020, intended to support dairy, poultry and egg producers after those supply-managed sectors lost certain protections in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.

“We will always stand up for the supply management system and we have delivered on our commitment to compensate our hard-working producers and processors who have been impacted by recent trade agreements,” said MacAulay last month.

Dairy industry satisfied

Nonetheless, the Dairy Innovation and Investment Fund was welcomed by representatives from Canada’s dairy industry, with the Dairy Farmers of Canada stating that it “is pleased to see the federal government honouring its commitment” to compensate dairy producers after trade agreement losses.

“These investments will not only benefit the dairy industry, but, ultimately, the entire Canadian economy,” said Phil J. Vanderpol of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada.

Applications to the fund are being accepted until Nov. 3, and costs are retroactive to Nov. 17, 2022. Only dairy products made from cow’s milk are eligible at this time.

The program will support eligible costs of capital assets and contracted services, including:

1. removing and disposing of existing equipment
2. purchasing, shipping, installing and commissioning of new equipment, software and production lines
3. installation of new, or expansion of existing, milk reception and milk storage areas as required to meet the objectives of the project
4. retrofits/renovations of existing facilities related to the installation and operation of eligible equipment
5. construction of a new facility
6. training necessary to operate eligible equipment, and
7. translation of materials related to training on the new equipment

Costs related to the purchase of land or research and development are not eligible.

To apply, visit: https://cdc-ccl.ca/en/dairy-innovation-and-investment-fund-what-program-offers

Cutline: Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the creation of a fund to inject $333 million into Canada’s dairy production and processing sectors in St. Hyacinthe last month.