Pontiac farmers join UPA protest in Gatineau

Pontiac farmers join UPA protest in Gatineau

A group of about a dozen tractors and other vehicles took off from chemin Alary in Luskville on Wednesday morning (April 17) to join fellow farmers in Gatineau for a protest organized by the Union des producteurs agricoles.

Stéphane Alary, UPA President for the Outaouais-Laurentides region, explained that the reason for the protest was to convince the provincial government to allocate a larger percentage of budget funding towards the agriculture sector. He explained that in recent years inflation has contributed to big price increases in a number of inputs that farmers require and pointed to the fact that Premier François Legault recently stated that there is a “crisis” in Quebec’s agricultural community.

He added that for young farmers in particular, entering the industry is difficult due to things like the price of land and high interest rates. He pointed to the demands of the FRAQ, an affiliated group which represents young farmers in Quebec, and said unless something is done, young people won’t be there to relieve the current generation of producers when they retire.

The full interview with Alary (10m10) is available here.