It sits on a little side street near Shawville’s downtown, and you would only find it if you knew what you were looking for, but the local office of the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) does a lot for the local community. 

The office has a half-dozen employees devoted to all things agriculture, from animal production to food processing and crop insurance. 

THE EQUITY spoke with Christine Rieux, an agronomist who has worked at the local office for a little over a decade.

“My role here is to represent the office to all our partners, whether it’s the MRC, the SADC or anything regarding media relations as well,” she explained. “On a day to day basis, I was hired here a little bit more than 11 years ago to [work on] field crops, and soil health. That’s my background.”

After completing her masters, specializing in grain and wheat production, she spent a year in France where she met her husband Thierry Raimbault (who also works at the local office, handling food processing and marketing). 

When the job in Shawville became available, she said it was what she was looking for professionally, and being from the Ottawa area, she was quite familiar with the culture of the region. She said that her goal was to be working in a public service role, combined with the need to get out of the office and into the field. 

“It’s a mix of two things. Wanting to be outside, wanting my office to be partly outside, and always being fascinated with what nature has to offer us,” she said. “That’s why working at the MAPAQ was the right place for me, because I could work in a context without the pressure to make sales or something like that. I prefer being a civil servant, and that kind of thing, that philosophy.”

She said that between May and September/October, part of her role is keeping an eye on things that might impact local crops, such as fungus, insects or weeds. 

“We monitor those crops and every week we release a news bulletin to say what to keep an eye on,” she said. “It’s really nice and it leads to research projects as well which we can partner with people too.”

THE EQUITY profiled one of these research projects on the Western Bean Cutworm in our July 27, 2022 edition. 

Rieux said that part of their role is also discussing trends and concerns with their colleagues across the province. 

“Our job as regional MAPAQ offices is really to make our voices heard on the provincial scene,” she said.  “Especially here in the Pontiac, some of the pests arrive here before going elsewhere in the province, because of the proximity with Ontario.”

Rieux is also responsible for the office’s summer students, who she said were currently working on an agricultural awareness project for the Shawville Fair, in collaboration with the non-profit Table agroalimentaire de l’Outaouais. She said that the project would focus on encouraging people to eat locally grown products.

Rieux said that their role is often directing producers to the right services, either in their office or one of the MAOAQ’s offices around the province. 

“At the MAPAQ our goal is to help businesses thrive. We aspire to be the ‘porte d’entrée’,” she said. “When they have any kind of project, or issues in the field, we try to be there for them.”

The ministry handles everything from fisheries to food inspections, and Rieux said that she has access to an enormous number of subject-matter experts if a local producer has a business idea in mind. 

“I would say they’d be surprised at how much we take to heart your success. Sometimes that means being  realistic about your dreams, telling you, ‘Oh that might not work,’ that’s not fun to close a door, but our door is always open but we’re trying to open doors for your success, in many fields.”