The Advocate
Quebec’s Fédération de la relève agricole has launched a new social media campaign to point out the stress and strain caused by uncertainty for young producers in the farming industry.
Taking to Facebook and Instagram with the sarcastic hashtag #maistoutvabien (#everythingisfine), the FRAQ hopes to highlight the distress facing young producers in an industry where Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada forecasts a 49.2-per-cent drop in net farm income in 2023 and an 86.5-per-cent drop in 2024.
The social media movement was unveiled at the federation’s annual meeting on March 15 in Longueuil, where outgoing FRAQ president Julie Bissonnette spoke of the frustration of seeing governments undervalue agricultural work.
“During my presidency I was able to see that young farmers everywhere share the same dream: that the premier would speak of agriculture as a real, concrete project for society,” Bissonnette said.
Pointing out double standard
“Why is it that developing, say, an electric car battery industry is considered a plan for the future — a great collective project — but when it comes to investing in agriculture, we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel?”
At the heart of the FRAQ’s social media campaign is the income crisis forcing many young producers to take on a second job and make enormous personal and financial sacrifices just to stay in business.
FRAQ-affiliated producers took to social media, posting photos of themselves holding signs that air their grievances.
“I work for free to feed the world,” one said.
“I took out a second line of credit to start the 2024 growing season,” reads another, each accompanied by the hashtag #maistoutvabien, which the FRAQ hopes will catch on as other young farmers are invited to post similar photos.
Forced to get an off-farm job
Currently, almost half of Quebec’s young farmers must work part time or full time in addition to their work on the farm to ensure the survival of their businesses. With climate change directly attacking their production and access to financing limited to investment programs that encourage taking on huge debt loads, Quebec’s young farmers are facing an unprecedented crisis.
“It’s as if it’s become ‘normal’ for us to work off-farm jobs while managing a full-time business,” said David Beauvais, FRAQ’s incoming president and a sheep producer from the Eastern Townships. “Meanwhile, we’re never able to take a vacation and are operating at the breaking point. Would that be considered ‘normal’ in any other sector of the economy? I highly doubt it.”
The FRAQ says its ironic hashtag #maistoutvasbien was inspired by a phrase too-often heard by young Quebec producers when explaining the present income crisis to politicians and decision-makers, who insist that despite their hardships “everything is fine!”
More than words needed
Meanwhile, says the FRAQ, young producers looking to start out are facing enormous increases in land prices. Meanwhile, government spending on agriculture still accounts for only one per cent of the provincial budget.
“Food autonomy shouldn’t just be a slogan,” Bissonnette said. “It should be a set of concrete actions aimed at supporting the entire agricultural network from the work in the fields to the meals on our tables.”
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David Beauvais, a producer in the Eastern Townships: “I had my subsidy cut because I have a second job. #maistoutvabien”
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Anouk Caron, a producer in the Eastern Townships: “I work for free to feed the world! #maistoutvabien #FRAQ #quitravaillegratos?”
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Leïla Arbour, a producer in Gaspé: “Six months with no salary. I have to choose between feeding myself and feeding Quebec. #maistoutvabien”
