Feeding Quebecers is increasingly difficult for those who make their living from it. Climate change, combined with increasing costs, could cause market gardening to disappear. The demand for local products may increase, but growing vegetables has become an obstacle course that exhausts even the most seasoned producers.
The Pigeons have been living off what grows on the family land in Saint-Rémi for 100 years. The farm evolved at the same time as the Quebec economy: it grew, became mechanized and specialized. Today, the Pigeons cultivate 400 hectares and are the largest bean producers in Quebec. Those that we buy in season in our supermarkets.
Brigitte Pigeon has worked for 40 years in the family business of which she is one of four shareholders, with her daughter, her niece and her nephew. As far back as she can go in her memory, she does not remember having experienced two consecutive years of major deficits.
“We won’t be able to pay anything in advance this year,” she says, as a disastrous second harvest season comes to an end.
Normally, the year’s income is used to finance expenses for the next season. We are talking about an annual investment of $3 to $3.5 million to cover all operating expenses, including the salaries of the 30 seasonal foreign workers.
What happened last year and this year to the Pigeons has little to do with bad luck, and a lot to do with climate change. In 2022, winged aphids unknown to the battalion arrived from the South to devastate the bean fields. The season ended with a net loss of $875,000.
This year, the constant rain not only ruined the harvest, but also caused additional expenses and increased the loss of the farm, which is at least as great as that of last year.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Gilbert Junior Pigeon and Brigitte Pigeon
“Our seasonal workers were paid to take their shovel in the morning and take out the water by digging trenches around the fields,” says Gilbert Pigeon, 39, who is part of the generation that wants to take over the farm, with his sister and cousin.
This graduate of the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality of Quebec, who we call Junior, was destined for the restaurant industry. He notably worked at Toqué! and at La Montée de lait, before going to help out on the family farm when his father had a serious accident.
“I stayed,” he said nine years later. I saw the opportunity to raise my children in a more favorable environment and I found my family. »
The restaurant world is used to dealing with slim profit margins. But the investment required to grow vegetables cannot be compared with a restaurant, emphasizes the farmer.
The cost of the equipment required to operate a farm of this size alone is dizzying: the giant harvester and optical sorter, which cost $500,000 each, must be financed and made profitable.
“We take enormous risks every year,” he says.
There is insurance for that, the costs of which are shared 40% by the producers and 60% by La Financière agricole, a government organization. Pigeons are insured, with the best coverage available. The “Cadillac”, as they say. And it’s expensive: $131,000 last year and $396,000 this year, which takes into account 2022 losses.
Insurance partially reimburses production costs, but does not compensate for the expected profit from the bean harvest.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Visit to the Pigeon farm in St-Rémi, the largest producer of beans in Quebec.
Eat local?
If the price of fresh seasonal vegetables remains more or less stable from year to year, production costs are increasing sharply, which adds to the stress of market garden producers who, in increasing numbers, are considering giving up the game.1.
The attraction of major crops, corn or soybeans, less risky and more profitable, is also starting to tickle the Pigeons. Part of their land area is already devoted to cereals, but if they abandon market gardening, it will not be their choice. Growing vegetables remains their job. “Our job is to feed the world,” argues Gilbert, who fears the day when there will no longer be enough fresh vegetables in season in a Quebec that wants to increase its food self-sufficiency.
The 2023 season will have been a disaster for several agricultural producers, particularly market gardeners.
“Vegetable production is the single parent of agriculture,” he says. We must support it if we want to continue eating local. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
To diversify their production, the Pigeons began growing ground cherries, a production that is still impossible to ensure in Quebec.
Unsuitable programs
To try to save their 2023 season, the Pigeons re-sowed beans at the end of July. At their own risk, because sowings made after July 15 are not insurable by La Financière agricole, even if the harvest season tends to lengthen.
To diversify their production, they began growing ground cherries, a production that is still impossible to ensure in Quebec.
These are examples which show that crop insurance is not adapted to the current situation, believes Catherine Lessard, deputy general director of the Association of Market Gardeners of Quebec.
Whatever the Minister of Agriculture says, existing programs are no longer enough, according to her.
The group is pushing hard for support programs for market gardening to be reviewed to take into account climate change and the reality of today’s producers.
The way it works, the programs currently penalize the most efficient producers.
Catherine Lessard, deputy general director of the Association of Quebec Market Gardeners
The Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may have just recognized that there is a problem. He recently established a special task force to provide updates on producers affected by summer weather.
More generally, Gilbert Pigeon believes that the programs are made for farms and for a climatic context that no longer exists. He notes that emergency aid is available for droughts, but not for torrential rains like those that fell this year and drowned his beans.
“How much do we want market gardening to continue in Quebec? This is the question that must be asked, according to Catherine Lessard. Producers must take more risks, there are some who will drop out while we want to encourage local production for environmental reasons and to increase food autonomy. »
Year after year in Quebec, large crops encroach on market gardening production, note those who make a living from them. Neither greenhouse cultivation nor small artisanal production will be able to replace the vegetables grown in the fields, believes Gilbert Pigeon. “This is not what can ensure food security for millions of people who live in cities,” he said.