After months of protests, Quebec reaches agreement with farmers

After months of protests over rising costs and thin profit margins, Quebec and farmers have reached an agreement to give the sector a much-needed boost.

In an hour-long meeting with Quebec’s farmers’ union (UPA), the province laid its proposal on the table.

“We think it’s an improvement and the UPA is satisfied,” Quebec Premier François Legault said.

Legault and his minister of agriculture, André Lamontagne, didn’t share the details of those measures or how much money will back them up, but one big part of the plan is to help farmers deal with high interest rates.

As farming is often a seasonal endeavour in Quebec, producers rely on loans to prepare in the off-season and buy seeds, for example.

Legault also proposed 14 measures to help reduce the amount of paperwork to obtain financial aid.

Accessing government help requires farmers to jump through a lot of hoops, some even having to hire expensive experts to help them navigate the bureaucracy.

“We have really pinpointed what are the challenges,” Lamontagne said. “We have come to an agreement of what would be useful that we implement, what would really be of support to those who have really been affected by those things since last year.”

As for the UPA, it says it is satisfied with the proposal, but most of the measures will only help in the short term.

“We are satisfied now but you need the next steps, when the ministers decide what the budget will be,” said Martin Caron, president of the UPA.

The proposal won’t be finalized until it is approved by cabinet sometime next week.

Until then, Caron wouldn’t commit to not holding any more protests.