Last month the Pontiac chapter of the Union des Producteurs Agricole (UPA) voted in a new president, Claude Vallière, and two new vice presidents, Gema Villavicencio and Justin O’Brien.

This change came as previous president, Scott Judd, stepped down from the job after three years. He said he . . .

wanted to share the position with other people.

“I think the whole union would work better with more people knowing how it works,” said Judd.

“I am quite proud of Claude for taking over as president. He is an entrepreneur in his own right. Bison farming is not for the faint of heart. He will do well at the UPA.”

Claude Vallière – President

Claude Vallière raises bison in Mansfield, on land his family has farmed for generations. What started as a small herd of six in 1996 has since grown to 32 heads.

For Vallière who works full-time as a wastewater technician for the municipality of Fort Coulonge, bison farming is more of a hobby. This will change once he retires, which he hopes to do soon.

Vallière has been involved with the UPA for several years. He said he’d been asked to take this position before, but until now, he hasn’t had the time.

As he steps into this new position, Vallière said he has certain priorities in mind.

First is the protection of agricultural lands.

“We can’t lose any more agricultural land because we need to feed ourselves,” he said. “We need to do a better job protecting the agricultural land that is left.”

He says getting municipalities more on board with his project will be essential.

Vallière also believes in moving Pontiac towards a green economy and thinks the UPA should be involved in facilitating this transition for farmers.

“We can’t change the way people think, or the way they want to see things,” he said. “All we can do is rely on facts, and collect and share data over years to show the changes happening.”

Above all of this, he wants to build and connect the network of farmers in the Pontiac.

He said he hasn’t seen high participation at the UPA in past years, and thinks that everybody, especially younger farmers, would benefit from opportunities to connect with other producers and discuss their challenges.

Gema Villavicencio – Vice President

Gema Villavicencio owns Pure Conscience farm, an organic mixed-production operation in Bristol. Her products include yak meat, chicken eggs, and vegetables.

She got involved with the UPA when she started farming just a few years ago because she wanted to get acquainted with the local agricultural sector.

She is taking on this new position as vice president because she wants to take a more active role in building the farming community in the region.

“We all live in these communities that are so far away from everybody,” she said. “We need a community to belong to that brings us all together.”

Like Vallière, Villavicencio believes adopting environmentally sustainable agricultural practices will be an important step for all Pontiac farmers in the coming years.

She is pleased to see the push for transitioning to a green economy coming from the federal government and believes this will bring funding, education, and other supports to the community to help with this transition.

While Villavicencio thinks making these changes are important, she recognizes that it will be a longer process that will depend on the participation of the new generation of farmers coming up.

“We need younger people and voices, people who want things to happen, to bring new ideas that would make it better for us, for farmers as well as for the larger community,” she said.

Justin O’Brien – Vice President

Justin O’Brien grew up on his family’s beef farm on L’Isle aux Allumettes. Since stepping into a co-ownership position in 2015, the farm has grown to include 400-acres of cash-crop production.

This is the first year he’s getting involved with the UPA.

“The reason I got on is to bring more information back to the upper Pontiac feed farmers,” he explained. “Nobody really knows what is going on and what programs are out there.”

He is particularly concerned with supporting the younger farmers. He recognizes that while he had a family business to take over, this is not the case for everybody.

“A lot of younger guys, they want to farm, but they’re starting out with little to nothing,” he said. “If the UPA and the government funding can help them out, that would be great.”

O’Brien is worried that if these newer farmers don’t receive proper support, Pontiac’s agricultural industry is at risk of disappearing.

“The younger guys are the future on the beef and the cash crops,” he said. “The older guys that are working, they’re going to retire and that will be it.”

Outgoing president Judd said he’s seen an increase in new farming businesses starting up in the Pontiac. His focus during his three-year term was connecting these young farmers to resources they needed, and too each other.

“You go through excitement and hardships of farming, but when you hit the first serious downward trend you’ve got to have support there, and have resources for farmers to reach out to,” Judd said, explaining it’s not that the support isn’t there, but that it’s not well organized.

“There are more programs now than there have ever been, but there’s so many that it’s hard to navigate, to know which you’re eligible for,” he said. “It’s really confusing for farmers.”

Judd said he plans to stay involved with the community as president of the Pontiac Soil Management Club and as representative for UPA’s Pontiac Central district.

Pontiac’s new UPA vice president Gema Villavicencio on her organic mixed-production farm in Bristol. She will be sharing the position with Justin O’Brien, of L’Isle aux Allumettes.

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