Zainab Al-Mehdar
Pontiac Jan. 12, 2022
To highlight agrotourism in the Pontiac, the Sociétés d’aide au Développement de la Collectivités (SADC) created a video series featuring the growing and evolving agricultural businesses in the Pontiac region.
“I wanted to find a way of really defining our region and showcasing what is . . .
special about entrepreneurship here in agriculture,” said Brittany Morin, Marketing and Communication Specialist at SADC.
The first episode of the video series was posted to the SADC Youtube channel in 2018. Since then they have produced a video every year featuring local farmers, what they do and how the SADC has supported them or worked with them.
The most recent video: New Herds Come to Western Quebec, is the fifth episode in the series.It was posted on Dec 3. The video features Pure Conscious Farm introducing yaks and Willow Lane Alpacas talking about their alpacas. Both raise unique herds in the Bristol region.
The series was created not only to promote these farms but also as a way to help the unique agrarian businesses have a bigger reach. Morin explained that the right marketing, this video series explained Morin, will reflect economically back on the region and entice people to visit and potentially encourage others to set up shop in Pontiac.
Bristol born and raised, alpaca farmers Gayle and Laird Graham care for a herd of 20 and are expecting about six newborn cria in the spring. The couple has been operating their farm for about 15. “We chose this animal because we were looking at an animal that we wanted to have on the farm in our retirement,” Gayle told The Equity.
When Gayle first got approached by the SADC she said “we were delighted.” Gayle felt like it would be great exposure for her business. She thought it was well done because she pointed out that they encapsulated all the different seasons of raising an alpaca from shearing it to handling the fiber.
Working with the SADC Graham said “they’ve been very supportive and very pleasant to deal with.”
“There’s always a great story to tell and for persons who want to pursue a lifestyle in agriculture, like it’s not just a job [to farmers] it’s their full being. So every time we sit down and talk to somebody in this industry it is always a fantastic story,” said Morin.
Doing this series Morin highlights that what she is seeing is farmers breaking away from the traditional ways of doing things and are enthusiastic and looking to feed not only their business but their own passions. “We’re definitely seeing growth and evolution and more passion being put into people’s dreams and their farms and I love sharing like that. That’s what I try to capture on camera,” she said.
The SADC offers business support, tools and training to jump-start any entrepreneurial venture. The organization is established coast-to-coast in rural communities through the Government of Canada. They are a group of experienced business professionals with various expertise there to grow, promote and develop rural entrepreneurship.
Each episode costs between $10,000 to $12,000 to produce. With the budget they have, Morin explained she wishes she could do more in a year but with the allocated budget it can be difficult to do. She highlighted that a third of the marketing budget is put towards executing the video and the rest is divided up amongst other marketing initiatives and promotions.
Phase one of the project was creating this series, and phase two is setting up a special marketing plan to promote the episodes through paid online advertisement.
Gayle said “we’re very proud to have started a business from scratch. Then able to build it up to a very sustainable business. That’s part of this agricultural area, creating agriculture tourism which I think is the future of this area.”
The last episode of the series, episode six will be showcased at the SADC Annual General Meeting in June.
