Many people were no doubt startled like me when they read this totally absurd news in The duty of September 24: “The construction in Longueuil of a vertical GoodLeaf farm, largely owned by the giant McCain, will lead to the loss of soil “with excellent agricultural potential” over nearly 12 hectares, an area equivalent to twenty football pitches. »
How could our Agricultural Land Protection Commission have authorized a division of the multinational agri-food company to acquire 38 hectares of arable land that is among the best in Quebec? The company plans to use much of it to build an enclosed hydroponic plant, a vertical greenhouse that artificially produces “green sprouts and ‘mini-vegetables’ for grocery stores in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.” We understand that the company did not want to answer the questions of the To have to.
What is no less amazing is the weak reaction of the director of the Union des producteurs agricole du Québec (UPA), who is content to declare that this concreting renders precious soil completely irrecoverable, and that it would have been better to build this factory elsewhere, on poor quality soils. How obvious! Mr. Director also quite simply lets it be understood that this multinational would even benefit from tax advantages, because of its installation in an agricultural zone! Moreover, according to him, this type of initiative would not be part of an “overall vision”. However, who should have a certain overall vision of agriculture and our need for food self-sufficiency if not an organization such as the UPA?
How could such a destructive project have reached this stage without our most concerned citizens coming out en masse to vigorously oppose it? Who will now have the elementary courage to put an end to this aberration?
We must ask this question to the outgoing government, which is distinguished by certain nebulous investments, and demand a documented response before the October 3 election on this disaster. Who’s gonna do it ? I dare to do it…
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