The Impossible Farm

Do you dream of running a small family farm where you would raise 2 cows for their milk, 200 hens for their eggs and 500 chickens for their meat? Abandon your dream! This book is a passionate plea for the return of family farms.

Do you dream of running a small family farm where you would raise 2 cows for their milk, 200 hens for their eggs and 500 chickens for their meat? Forget 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 upon the eponymous lecture he delivered across Quebec, Dominic Lamontagne recounts 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. His targets? The Quebec government and the union monopoly of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA).

“Our ancestral freedoms have been strangled by a devastating duo: the State, which has abdicated its role as legislator in favor of a single union that dictates the rules for everyone. […] That large producers have appropriated the near-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 small, multifunctional farm is utterly unacceptable. […] The rage I feel every time I mention this reality is more intense today than ever.”

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This book is a passionate plea for the return of family farms, local cuisine, and a dynamic re-occupation of the land, inseparable from the social fabric. It is time to give Quebecers back the opportunity to practice small-scale, environmentally friendly agriculture and the freedom to eat the food of their choice.

Preface by Joel Salatin

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Author: Dominique Lamontagne
Publisher: Écosociété (Montreal)
Publication date: 2015
Pages: 126
ISBN 978-2-89719-8