The GoodLeaf company, whose main shareholder is the Canadian multinational McCain, has concreted nearly 12 hectares of arable land in Longueuil to erect a vertical hydroponic greenhouse, a real lettuce and baby sprout factory. Under its rules, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole (CPTAQ) gave its imprimatur to this new kind of industrial agriculture project, which led to the destruction of excellent agricultural land with an area equivalent to about twenty of soccer fields.
As revealed The duty, it was in October 2021 that TruLeaf, of Nova Scotia, the parent company of GoodLeaf, acquired for $2.27 million the agricultural land held by the City of Longueuil, which leased it to local farmers. The transaction covers 38 hectares, of which only a third is used for the greenhouse. So there is room for the expansion of the multinational.
At first, the company used a Quebec shell. Then, immediately after, the Nova Scotia entity swallowed it all up. It was through the Act respecting the acquisition of agricultural land by non-residents, administered by the CPTAQ, that the McCain subsidiary was able to get hold of this lot. In principle, only residents of Quebec can buy agricultural land. However, the law allows exceptions for a maximum of 1000 hectares per year.
At the end of 2020, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne, launched the Greenhouse Growth Strategy in Quebec 2020-2025, which aimed to double the surface area of fruit and vegetable greenhouses in five years. The general objective is to increase Quebec’s food self-sufficiency on local, regional and national markets. It provides for the granting of subsidies and partial reimbursement of the electricity bill.
This oversized McCain greenhouse raises several issues. The multinational plans to export part of its production to the northeastern United States and Ontario, which does not contribute to improving our food self-sufficiency. Providing hydroelectricity to export greenery to the United States in the fall and winter is certainly not the wisest use of this now precious resource. In addition, because the McCain subsidiary is established on agricultural land, it will undoubtedly benefit from the municipal tax reimbursement program like any other agricultural producer established in Quebec. Subsidizing McCain and thus competing with the smallest greenhouse producers here in our food markets is not the idea of the century.
The other issue is the disappearance of agricultural land. Hydroponic greenhouses, unlike greenhouses built on the ground, are actually large buildings paved with concrete. It is self-evident that the construction of new concrete greenhouses should not be authorized on quality and, moreover, exploited land.
One might wonder what the difference is between McCain’s greenhouse plant in Longueuil, with the associated tractor-trailer traffic, and another large-scale plant located in an industrial park. It is true that if McCain had settled in an industrial park, it would have paid much more for its land and would not have had the right to reimbursement of municipal taxes. Decidedly, McCain made a good deal.
In this story, the rules of the CPTAQ and the laws it applies have been observed. However, Quebec’s food self-sufficiency does not depend on the arrival of exporting multinationals. The goal of the government’s strategy is laudable, but hell is paved with good intentions.