Andrew McClelland

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

Every farmer has a story about how difficult it is to find someone to help out on the farm. 

You’re a dairy producer who wants to take a short vacation? Good luck finding a relief milker. Or, maybe you actually want a full-time hired hand? It can be nearly impossible to find someone reliable who is less than an hour’s drive away.

Now here’s the bad news. Attracting employees – and keeping them – is going to get harder, according to a recent study conducted by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, a non-profit focused on addressing human resource issues facing farm businesses across Canada. 

Blame the COVID-19 pandemic or the mass retirement of Baby Boomers, there are a lot of factors leading to Canada’s farm labour crisis.

“There are 500,000 fewer Gen Xers in Canada than there were Baby Boomers,” said Phyllis MacCallum, senior program manager at Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC). “How are we going to fill that gap? It’s just something happening in the economy generally.”

MacCallum explained the findings of her research during a QFA videoconference on the topic of agriculture labour shortages held March 21. According to her, the fact that small farms often get consolidated into larger operations and that producers are aging has exacerbated the labour shortage in agriculture.

Farmers older than average

“The average age in Canada is 45 right now,” MacCallum explained. “But the average age of a Canadian ag producer is hovering between 56 and 58. We’re getting to the point where the entire Baby Boom generation is at retirement age. Combine that with farms consolidating and families not being ready for succession, and it becomes very difficult to manage.”

In 2022 alone, the agriculture sector reported a peak worker vacancy rate of nearly 7.5 per cent. That’s 25-per-cent higher than the national average. CAHRC estimates that accounts for a whopping loss of $3.5 billion in potential sales for Canada’s farm industry.

“We’re expecting over 30 per cent of the current ag workforce to retire by 2030,” MacCallum said. “That would be about 85,000 positions – and that will cause a significant challenge for the sector.”

The quickest and most obvious solution for many in the industry has been the hiring of temporary foreign workers. More than 21,500 foreign workers were employed in Quebec agriculture in 2022, which accounted for around 22 per cent of the sector’s workforce – a relatively higher share than most other provinces.

7,800 unfilled jobs in Quebec ag sector

“And even with Quebec’s reliance on temporary foreign workers, Quebec ag still had an estimated 7,800 positions that went unfilled at peak season in 2022,” MacCallum said. 

Temporary foreign workers are most present in Quebec in the  fruit, vegetable, greenhouse and nursery production sectors, with their seasonal nature and need for numerous hands at key moments. For most owner-operators, the program has been a lifesaver.

“Most placements of foreign workers are hugely successful,” MacCallum said. “And we have to remember that the ‘temporary foreign worker’ is filling the long-term labour gap. If things work well, this worker will be here on his work visa for two years, he’ll go home on vacation when necessary, and then the producer will renew his visa for two more years. He’s temporary on a long-term basis.”

But CAHRC has more ideas on how to revive the Canadian agricultural industry than hiring temporary workers. MacCallum and her fellow researchers believe that addressing issues with the perception and awareness of Canada’s farm industry can attract more workers. 

People don’t know of opportunities

“We’re doing a lot of work at high schools and colleges to inform students about what the opportunities are and what your career path can look like in the ag industry – most of them simply don’t know!” she said. “It’s also important that we talk to those looking to change careers, those looking to build a new skill set about what the opportunities could be in the ag space.”

The CAHRC is also doing research into other areas in the aim of identifying ways to make agriculture a more attractive work environment. Improving the workplace culture of farming is a big part of that, as is skill development in the wake of automation and technology.

MacCallum is optimistic in building an agricultural workforce, recognizing that at some level, farming will always be work for people who like to get their hands dirty.

“This is still manual, physical work,” she said. “Ag producers do jobs that get them in the dirt. We need folks who do those jobs – that’s the simple reality of the situation. There’s so much opportunity in the ag sector that pretty much every interest can find an ag job.”

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.