The sun is shining for farmers in Eastern Quebec

The warm weather coming to Eastern Quebec is beneficial for agricultural producers. After a disastrous season in 2023, they still remain cautious while looking with hope to a summer that promises to be more lenient.

Éliane Pelletier tasted her first ripe strawberry on June 7, several weeks earlier than usual. Last year, we had the premieres at Saint-Jean, she remembers. On his land as on others in Saint-Pascal, the heat raises the hopes of farmers.

Everything is a week early! confirms Mario Belzile. It looks very goodsays this man who already imagines blueberries swollen by the ton. A big year of blueberrieshe promises.

On the other side of the river, at Daniel Harvey’s blueberry farm, on the North Shore, the same warm front raises similar hopes. After a start to the season slowed by cold weather, the sun invigorates plants and insects, which make up for lost time. Pollinators will finish their workinsists the farmer, who is also president of the North Shore Farmers’ Union.

If they rub their hands when they see the fields flowering, the farmers remain on alert. : at the end of the season, we can have hail that ruins everything”,”text”:”We know it: at the end of the season, we can have hail that ruins everything”}}”>We know: at the end of the season, we can have hail that ruins everything, warns Mario Belzile. It is still too early to celebrate, he insists: for that, we will have to wait until the end of the season. Until then, the work continues.

According to him, the profession of farmer is made of attention and adjustments. : too much water, need to drain; not enough water, we have to irrigate… and one year is never the same as the next!”,”text”:”We always have to adapt our crops, we are always in compromise: too much water, it must be drained; not enough water, you have to irrigate… and one year is never the same as the next!”}}”>We always have to adapt our crops, we are constantly compromising: too much water, we have to drain; not enough water, you have to irrigate… And one year is never the same as the next!

On the North Shore, a fear is emerging: the lack of precipitation. Daniel Harvey points out soil that dries out too quickly: Last summer, we experienced a certain drought, then a winter without snow, and now, this spring where it doesn’t rain much… The water deficit is accumulatinghe said.

Fortunately, showers are forecast during the week, reports Daniel Harvey.

Labor, a variable geometry problem

At Éliane Pelletier’s strawberry farm, the law on the regulation of child labor, adopted on September 1, is finally making itself felt. We were already having trouble finding young peoplewhispers the market gardener.

Since last year, the work of young people under 14 has been prohibited by the government, with some exceptions. However, one of these exceptions concerns agricultural businesses which have ten or fewer employees. They can hire children aged 12 or over for certain tasks such as fruit harvesting.

Even if this exception applies to Éliane Pelletier’s farm, she emphasizes that after employing two cashiers and two supervisors, the law remains restrictive. She will only be able to hire a very limited number of 12-year-olds… who were becoming rare anyway.

years”,”text”:”Last year, we were considering hiring 11-year-olds”}}”>Last year, we were considering hiring 11-year-oldsadmits Ms. Pelletier. Now this is no longer possible.

In Saint-Pascal, Mario Belzile explains the shortage of workers by the short duration of the picking season in small businesses. It’s only a few weeks, we don’t have a full-time jobhe specifies, unlike the big producers.

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The labor problem is not felt as much on the North Shore, points out Yves Laurencelle, president of theUPA of the Capitale-Nationale–Côte-Nord. In fact, the region has more farms on a human scalewho generally manage to find enough labor in their surroundings, he says.

For him, the North Shore problem is more a question of succession. Too few young farmers are coming to settle in the region, which should benefit from special programs, he argues.

L’UPA is preparing to put pressure on Quebec on this subject, possibly in the fall. By then, the first blueberries may have had time to grow. Daniel Harvey expects them in mid-August, unless they are early.