It’s been almost 23 years since I left the green prairie of my childhood. A prairie situated in the region of L’Assomption. More specifically on a back road named, poetically or ironically, Point-du-Jour-Sud (point of day south). Although we weren’t a family of farmers, my favourite playgrounds were our neighbours’ barns and fields. I spent some long, happy days in the company of cows, sheep, chickens, geese, quails, pheasants, and a partridge in a pear tree! I even spent some time doing farm chores: bailing hay (just thinking about it makes me sneeze), feeding assorted fowl and sheep, catching baby lambs. So cute, yet so quick! In truth, I did my share of farm work (the share of a non-farmer, obviously), enough to know that I did not want to pursue this way of life. First, my allergies barely let me breathe, then there was the question of my body’s inadequate muscle quantity at that time (and even today…). And besides, it’s too much work. Working the land is just too much work! But even if I chose another career, at that time I developed a great admiration, and more particularly, a feeling of respectful recognition for all those who, every day of every year, from early morning to late at night, work, and work hard, to bring to my table (not only mine), all of the products that make eating such a delight.

Then came the day I had to leave these grasslands to venture into the city to study. So, adios little calves, cows, and pigs. I must leave you now and I don’t know when I will see you again.

And as fate would have it, my career brings me back to the pasture. For almost two years now, I have hosted the television show Par-Dessus le marché. In the first few days of shooting as I was walking through a field surrounded by cows, I couldn’t believe how it all felt so familiar. How, even if I had not really had any contact with the agricultural world, I hadn’t forgotten it either. As I stood there working with the production crew, I was seven years old again. Pure joy!

Although this universe remained familiar to me, the television show allowed me to realize how much agriculture had progressed over the past 20 years. How it had taken a giant step into modern times. Through technological evolution as much as through the challenges this century has brought with it. Farming may have acquired new working implements worthy of “Space Odyssey 2001”, it currently faces a series of challenges and realities that could weaken it: globalization, environmental degradation, climate changes, increasing equipment and production costs. And let’s not forget the ever growing population with its escalating demands, who, without a doubt, only want to pay the lowest possible price. Thank goodness there are still some brave souls who haven’t yet been disheartened and continue to work very hard (because, that has not changed), to feed us all.

Know that you still have my admiration and my recognition. And all of us at Par-dessus le marché, are working very hard to place your work and your passion at the forefront and increase awareness of its importance. The public has a right to be demanding. But it needs to recognize the implications of its demands. And it must also reconnect with its own green prairie. Because, not so long ago, we were all sons or grandsons of farmers. But our crazy, quick-paced lives have taken us away from nature. From our nature. We forget, or rather, we ignore all the work that goes into growing a simple tomato. Meanwhile, it’s that much easier to be demanding. Basically, what I am trying to say is that

I would like the public to renew its connection with farmers. Together, as a whole, we can find solutions to help us face the tomorrow and today’s challenges. Furthermore, we can maintain this jewel of our history and our economy, healthy and radiant, a precious treasure I call our agriculture.