Between the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), the government of Quebec and the brand new Alliance SaluTERRE, bringing together Équiterre and the Fédération de la succession agricole du Québec (FRAQ), the desire to protect Quebec’s agricultural land seems to be a a unifying point, even obvious for anyone who has an appetite and wants to see Quebec agriculture shine.
Pleading against the grabbing of agricultural land – we will think of the Northvolt saga, industrial developments in Centre-du-Québec or simply urban sprawl near major centers – representatives of the Quebec government and regional agricultural federations unite against what is being described as an affront to our food pantry.
Ready to do anything to improve its lot, the agricultural world clings to the words of politicians and its union representatives, even going so far as to promote the ideals of food sovereignty put forward by the brand new spokesperson for a orange party yet not very popular in the region.
These virtuous claims, which are served to us in the greatest simplicity, seem to be nothing but empty calories, not even touching the tip of our national agricultural iceberg. How can the UPA invest so much energy (and contributions) in defending a handful of hectares now tarred, when under its leadership the overall quality of agricultural land in Quebec is deteriorating, and access to land is almost impossible and that current operators and those of tomorrow experience a veritable Sisyphean torture every day?
Although changes to agricultural land zoning raise questions, it seems exaggerated to claim that these losses have a major impact on the sustainability of our system or on the vitality of the regions. The multiple crises that have hit the rural world for decades have had a much more significant impact on the development and growth of the agricultural sector.
The inability to transfer their business, the administrative burden, bankruptcies, suicides and more recently inflation will be singled out by producers, well before the rezoning of fallow, asphalted agricultural land for the benefit of a new parking in Drummondville.
How, given the scale of these problems, can we still cling to the concept of food sovereignty as a saving solution for agricultural land and as a tool for rural revitalization, while we depend on (and benefit from) a globalized market?
Our countryside and our lands, as local as they are, also feed the rest of the world: Quebec exports, among other things, 70% of the pork it produces and 35% of its beef production. Quebec agriculture is therefore not only for its own citizens and pretending otherwise will certainly not improve the situation.
Specialization
Since the 1970s, the agricultural business has specialized, partly thanks to the comparative advantages inherent in each country, and intervenes now in a global market, working with partners across a multitude of time zones. The question of regional vitality and the fate of Quebec agricultural land therefore goes beyond the notion of local production and is infinitely more complex than the simple use of the land: an in-depth debate must be held.
On a Quebec scale, it is beyond comprehension that our own institutions are obstacles to the development of the agricultural world and the sustainable use of the agricultural zone. We simply cannot afford to be our own greatest enemy.
The Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land of Quebec (CPTAQ), whose very mandate is to ensure the healthy development of our agricultural heritage, only seems to protect the legal character of the soil and not its vocation, its fertility and its sustainability. The debate seems shifted towards objectives which, in the long term, do not lead to more agricultural businesses being created, do not ensure the vitality of those in place and do not improve the health of the soil.
The Quebec pantry is not just local. It is both here and in Brazil, in the United States as well as in China, and pretending otherwise under the pretext of a rural ideal will not lighten the burden on Quebec farmers.
Between the legal protection of land, the improvement of soil quality and easier access to the agricultural profession, a global reflection is necessary within the entire sector to ensure a future where food security and vitality rural go hand in hand.