(Boucar Diouf and Jean-Martin Fortier) Although they have several points in common, the paths of Boucar Diouf and Jean-Martin Fortier had never crossed. The two men of the land being also very skilful with ideas and words, the meeting was fruitful. Overview, in four key points.
The Gathering Earth
Jean-Martin Fortier and Boucar Diouf have both achieved this feat: reaching a wide audience with subjects that are anything but eye-catching, agriculture on a human scale in the first case, scientific issues in the second.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Jean Martin Fortier
“You have chosen the most unifying domain of humanity: food,” Boucar told Jean-Martin. In Quebec, we talk about integration. Of multiculturalism and encounters of cultures. The kitchen has been doing this for a long time. Discover the other through food. That’s why what you do resonates. Because everyone is there. »
If they had never sat together, the two men have a mutual admiration.
“I am African, continues Boucar. And what you do moves me. What you do affects me, because I am a farmer, like you. I come from agriculture, animal husbandry. My parents are still farmers. Someone who comes from Vietnam, from Thailand will also recognize themselves. »
I strongly believe in the multiplication of small farms. The more small farms there are, in all regions of Quebec, the more resilient we will be to climate change. The more people we will have who will eat healthy foods. A culture around agriculture.
Jean Martin Fortier
Take the bypass paths
As skilful as these two communicators are, the sometimes complex message still has to find an audience. Wide, if possible.
“I play a lot on the cool factor, says Jean-Martin Fortier. I’m guilty of that because I know it works, but it has to stay true, authentic. So people get on board. »
The farmer with the hat is therefore fully aware of the strength of his image.
Enough to use it to his advantage?
Absolutely, he continues, in his confidences.
“I even started a company based on it! »
Growers, the company in question, is a collection of gardening clothing and accessories, which also does very well for the city or the outdoors.
“We put forward real farmers, but who are so cool, so beautiful, continues Jean-Martin. It is pedagogy. We present them, with a slogan. I know people want to be that. Like when I was little, I listened to hockey and I thought Wayne Gretzky was so good. I wanted a stick like him! »
Boucar Diouf, seated at his side, listens and approves.
You have to find bypasses to pick up the youngest. If the cool factoring is part of what affects them, it must be done! I call it pedagogy. Pedagogy is the art of not taking highways like everyone else does and taking bypass paths, steep paths.
Boucar Diouf
Teaching above all
“I’m not an influencer,” says Boucar Diouf unreservedly, who recalls that he is not present on Twitter or Instagram.
“My objective was just to participate in the social debate and to raise awareness and teach. »
“If it happened there, maybe I consider myself a successful teacher. »
Jean-Martin Fortier shares this point of view.
“Me too, my approach is pedagogy,” he says. The books I write are to teach. I teach a master class. I use my personality, which is perhaps a winner, to get my message across. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Jean-Martin Fortier and Boucar Diouf
The dark side of social media
If there is a subject that made the two men jump during this short meeting, it is this one: the harshness of the comments on social networks and the resonance that this finds everywhere afterwards, in society.
“The internet is a medium of predation. It is the African savannah, image Boucar. Except you don’t see your predators. They are everywhere. When you know there are lurking predators, you pay attention. But there… I take my hat off to those who cover the news and very hot debates. Especially when you have kids. »
The two men of ideas agree: times are tough for those who speak out.
“That is scary! launches Jean-Martin, convinced. I had issues with it and I find it disturbing. It makes me want to participate. To give of mine. It’s a wave of fascism where anything becomes a big story. »
Boucar listens, nods, continues. According to him, this exclusion from the debate if there is a difference of opinion is unacceptable. “It’s such a terrible way to look at it,” he said. We’re not saying we’re going to sit down and talk. We say to you: you, did you say that? Did you write that? You no longer have the right to exist. And we do it in the name of tolerance…”
“If I had started doing comedy shows in those years, under those conditions, I would have given up right away and I would have gone back to research,” he continues. But even then, you can’t get away with it. In universities today, you can make a little difference and we decide that you are no longer there. We throw you away. »
For Jean-Martin, the situation is serious: “It inhibits us from doing what we want to do and saying what we want to say. »
Who is Boucar Diouf?
- Born in Fatick, Senegal, in 1965
- Holder of a master’s degree in plant biology from the University of Dakar and a doctorate in oceanography from the University of Quebec in Rimouski, where he taught for eight years
- Radio and television presenter, his show Nomo Sapiens is currently touring the province. He signs opinion pieces in The Press and is the author of 12 books.
Who is Jean-Martin Fortier?
- Born in Greenfield Park, near Montreal, in 1978
- Launched in 2012 its practical guide The market gardenernow translated into 10 languages
- Practices regenerative agriculture with her life and business partner, Maude-Hélène Desroches, at Jardins de la Grelinette in Saint-Armand, Estrie
- In 2016, the farmer and entrepreneur took part in the Ferme des Quatre-Temps adventure, which gave birth to the series Farmers featured on UnisTV