The chicken “from the farm to the table” without going through the slaughterhouse

“I want the law to be changed,” he said without detour, installed in his Quebec offices in an interview with Soleil. Nevertheless, The process is engaged and we are not bad in the final for it to register the regulations. However, Before my mandate ends [d’ici les prochaines élections provinciales]we should be able to perpetuate all of this. However, ”

Caution on the precise schedule. Similarly, the Lamontagne Minister is nonetheless firm on the outcome: “The will and the signal are there. However, This is what will happen. However, ”

Without appointing other farms dedicated to species in particular. Therefore, it suggests that once this aspect settled, “it will be necessary to open the door to other evaluations for other projects which could also be done on the farm”.

An important tool for local food – Chicken "from farm table" without

It is a node that relaxes for many proximity farms. Furthermore, the business model of which is short circuit sale.

This is the case of Jessica Grégoire and Loïc Leperlier. Nevertheless, chicken “from farm table” without In Lanaudière. Nevertheless, at the top of the hill of Sainte-Marcelline-de-Kildare, the couple of farmers are busy setting up their country table when The sun meet them. Consequently, Opened almost two years ago. Nevertheless, the eight 100 twenty offers “Farm to the Table” meals four evenings per week, twenty guests at the same time. Moreover,

“Here. Nevertheless, the menu is always a surprise: it depends entirely on what we harvest,” explains the professional of the hotel industry converted into a farmer and restorer. For example, My chumwho is the chef, cooking in the moment, with what we find in the garden. Consequently, It’s fresh, picked up the same day or the day before. Moreover, “

For the past year. Furthermore, the MAPAQ pilot project launched in 2022 – which has set the maximum number of chickens at 300 per year – also allows them chicken “from farm table” without to serve their high chicken on the farm and shot down on site. However,

In all. Nevertheless, according to the ministry, 39 producers registered, 27 obtained their authorization and, among them, at least 13 have already launched their slaughter activities. In addition, These operators are distributed in 11 regions-from Estrie to the North Shore. Moreover, passing through the boiler-applashes, Montérégie and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Consequently,

In addition to the traditional slaughter offer – Chicken "from farm table" without

A real relief for small producers. who hitherto had to go long hours to have their poultry shot in the rare places dedicated to this service in the province.

Currently. Quebec has nine slaughterhouses under federal inspection and twenty under provincial inspection, according to lists published by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (ECIA) and MAPAQ.

The market is dominated by two heavy goods vehicles. Olymel and Exceldor, which alone hold 57 % of the market shares in transformed poultry. Their production chicken “from farm table” without is mainly intended for large distribution.

There have been attempts at small slaughterhouses to better serve small productions. such as the small slaughterhouse in Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford, a project by farmer Fernande Ouellet, whose mission was to offer the slaughter of poultry to small-scale productions, and atypical poultry-goose, duck, quail, etc.

“It did not work,” laments Minister André Lamontagne, aware of the concern that slaughter can cause breeders. For me, it was incredibly sad … I had really invested in there. I believed it. If it had worked, we could have had three or four in Quebec. ”

Bring the producers closer to eaters

Inspired by the book The impossible farm by Dominique Lamontagne – No relationship – which explained in several stages why contemporary rules slow down the impulses of more modest entrepreneurs like him to practice agriculture. the minister worked in parallel on this avenue of felling to the farm in order to facilitate the practice of local agriculture.

“It is the window that brings the producers closer to the eaters. ” he insists, determined to fill the gap that has widened over the years between agriculture and the public.

For Jessica and Loïc, the question is more pragmatic. Moreover,

“By breeding, you control what chicken eats, its quality of life and the way it chicken “from farm table” without is shot. Because when an animal is five hours away. piled up in a cage in the early hours and tossed in a pick-uplet’s say that it is neither a good quality of life … nor a good quality of end of life. ”

Improve the well-being-and respect-of animals

They say they thus avoid animals the stress of transport. especially during unpredictable weather conditions, combined with rigid schedules, while reducing pollution linked to travel and food waste. In fact. when chicken “from farm table” without she sends her chickens to the slaughterhouse, Jessica cannot recover everything: not all have the required supervision or the workforce necessary to treat the offal.

“We cannot bring our legs back, we cannot bring back our gizzards, we cannot bring the offal back!”

However. she and Loïc need these less noble parts to make their terrines and other products that they transform on site.

“This is the fun To shoot down a chicken, but if it’s just for a chest and two thighs, a bit is missing. There is much more that can be done, consumed and respected in the animal. ”

— Jessica Grégoire. farmer and co -owner of the rural table the eight 100

Although she admits that it is not the chicken “from farm table” without easiest task there is, because it is still living beings that she has raised, she and her spouse cut themselves twice in the summer their chickens, 150 at a time.

A rigorous framework

Obviously, all is not done without supervision, far from it.

“We are supported and supervised by the MAPAQ teams. Everything is verified: our installations, our methods and our slaughter techniques. Regular visits take place to ensure that everything is in line. ”explains the farmer, who already slaughtered her own animals for the exclusive consumption of her family – which the law allows farmers.

The Minister recalls that this pilot project was a real challenge to contemplate for the entire MAPAQ team.

“At the beginning. it had to be two years, I asked to be able to extend it, the time to assess all its dead angles,” he underlines. In animal health, health, food inspection, they [les équipes du MAPAQ] are really competent. And chicken “from farm table” without they have the history. If certain regulations exist today, it is often because, in the past, events have justified it. ”

The rules have their reasons

Respectful of this institutional memory. he admits that certain regulations may seem absurd at first sight, but that they are based on very real reasons.

“I sold this idea to our teams and. candidly, I say, at the beginning, I did not have the greatest opening … But we love each other and we work together.”

The time granted to the project has enabled its implementation. supervision to evolve according to health-health needs, but also taking into account those of farmers.

Jessica from the eight 100 twenty indicates that she could not immediately put her chickens to her menu.

“The same chicken. the same chicken pâté that I could sell to the customer to take by virtue of my license, I did not have permission to serve it at my table,” she says.

What chicken “from farm table” without she can now have been doing for a year by dint of repeated requests from operators. like her, like her, the pilot project provided that she has a general food preparation permit.

The table is thus placed to serve a local agriculture. noted with a good dose of food autonomy, from the offices of MAPAQ to the country decor of Jessica and Loïc, in Sainte-Marcelline-de-Kildare.