Mélissa Stoia is a training geographer. It does economic development and is an expert in circular economy. Her husband Benoit Courcelles is an engineer and teaches Polytechnique Montréal. He is a floor specialist.
Together, they created the expedition 20 parallels which aims to understand the challenges of climate change in vineyards and promote knowledge transfer between entrepreneurs in this area, from here and elsewhere.
With their three daughters, they visited vineyards in Morocco, Spain and France in 2024 – which requested 190 hours of travel by bicycle – in order to see how agricultural entrepreneurs adapted to climate change. Shipping has also made it possible to test a tool developed in Polytechnique Montréal which wants to fight against soil erosion in the vineyards.
Photo Sarah Mongeau-Birkett, the press
A few days before the big start, the family was preparing for a trip that will cover a distance evaluated between 800 km and 900 km.
In Quebec, viticulture is a young and developing economic sector.
“The sector is in full explosion, booming,” says Mélissa Stoia who specifies that since 1980, with the establishment of the first vineyard in Dunham, we have gone from 1 wine manufacturing permit around 160 today.
“It is not trivial to say that there are vineyards in Lac-Saint-Jean now. From a geographical point of view, it is a complete nonsense, she continues. From an agricultural point of view, it may also seem a nonsense. But by digging, we realized – and this is where the trip makes sense – that climate change bring business opportunities. »»
Faced with climate change, the winegrowers are all equal. Their agricultural practices are changing.
“We wanted to go see people who have tested solutions,” says Benoit Courcelles, who himself has one in his luggage. Literally.
Transfer of knowledge
In its expedition on two wheels (in fact, ten, in total, etc.), the family brings a small portable laboratory that holds in a cooler.
Mélissa Stoia, Benoit Courcelles and their daughters left Montreal at the end of June to Alma, by car, to then be a few kilometers by bicycle to Pointe-Taillon National Park, a real starting point.
“Our first big step starts from there,” explains Benoit Courcelles.
Our bicycle journey will then lead us to Montreal, over a period of about six weeks and a distance of more or less 900 km.
Benoit Courcelles, engineer and professor in Polytechnique Montréal
Originally, it was the three vineyards of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean that attracted them to this corner of the province.
“We want to see what’s going on there,” said Mélissa Stoia. These are vineyards that are younger than those in the Eastern Cantons. »»
Photo Sarah Mongeau-Birkett, the press
The Light Voyage family – Do not forget that there is scientific equipment in this mountain of luggage.
In a context where there is more rain, researchers want to better understand the phenomenon of erosion particularly present in viticulture. They will take earth samples during their visit, as they did during their European shipping, to make a soil analysis with treatment against erosion using native bacteria. Few trials of this kind are done in the field and the winegrowers are thirsty for information, they say.
For this reason, at the heart of their project, there is the transfer of knowledge between people who have a lot. The family does not replace a commercial agronomic advice service, it provides avenues of solution from industry, peers, as well as scientific data which comes from the ground.
“They lack listening,” says the geographer. It is typical of entrepreneurs. It’s hard to be an entrepreneur, they are solitary professions. »»
These “20 parallels” promote this exchange since what agricultural entrepreneurs are experiencing further south today risks arriving at their colleagues further north.
“These people accumulate an incredible amount of data and field experience,” says Mélissa.
The duo wants to serve as a transmission belt. Between companies here and elsewhere. The researcher felt a great opening of winegrowers in the face of the scientific nature of their project. According to her, in an emerging industry like the vine in Quebec, everything related to the transfer of knowledge is favorable. It could avoid errors… avoidable.
This is one of the conclusions of the first version of the expedition: the winegrowers of Morocco, for example, wanted to prevent their Spanish colleagues from making the same mistakes as them, as not to plant enough vegetation in an arid climate, which creates real deserts. “The winegrowers even pointed out that they wanted to go to permaculture to optimize water resources,” says Benoit Courcelles.
A young industry like the Quebec vineyard is also still in the acquisition of knowledge. We congratulate ourselves to make better reds, with more heat which promotes the ripening of grapes. “But if, on the other hand, the erosion of our floors and the too abundant precipitation wiggle the fruit on the foot, we are not more advanced, calculates Mélissa Stoia. We really want to awaken the consciences that there is a real opportunity for this sector, but we must structure it as it should be. »»
The scientific component
Benoit Courcelles wants to test a soil treatment method, developed in Polytechnique Montréal, to limit the erosion and acidification of agricultural soils. For this, the scientist will take soil samples and carry out genetic analyzes in the laboratory in order to identify the bacteria present, because the technique uses some of them to create a natural binder between soil grains.
