The Impossible Farm

Do you dream of running a small family farm where you would raise two cows for their milk, 200 hens for their eggs, and 500 chickens for their meat? Give up on your dream! In Quebec, the laws governing the production and marketing of agricultural products (joint plans, quotas, sales agencies, etc.) are all obstacles to starting such a business.
In The Impossible Farm, a book that expands on the eponymous conference he gave across Quebec, Dominic Lamontagne testifies to the difficulties faced by all those who want to practice artisanal, transformative, and resilient agriculture. Echoing the conclusions of the Pronovost report, he vehemently denounces the legislation and industrial structures that are literally stifling the next generation of farmers. In his sights? The Quebec government and the union monopoly of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA).
Our ancestral freedoms have been taken by the throat by a devastating tandem, that of the State, which has renounced its role as legislator in favor of a single union that lays down the rules for everyone. […] That large producers have appropriated the quasi-exclusive supply of supermarkets, thanks to a union monopoly, is already questionable. But that this system is a major obstacle to the free operation of a multifunctional small farm is completely unacceptable. […] The rage that I feel, each time I evoke this reality, is more intense today than ever.
This book is a vibrant plea for the return of family farms, local gastronomy, and a dynamic reoccupation of the land, inseparable from the social fabric. It is time to give Quebecers back the opportunity to practice agriculture on a human scale, respectful of the environment, and the freedom to eat the food of their choice.