Project aims to give Quebec's overworked farmers a break

Days off work are rare for Quebec dairy farmers, and thats why a group of farmers isworking to create a substitute program.

On smaller farm where you have one person whos the everything - the maintenance man, the cow man, the field man its very hard to find somebody to replace that, said Mike MacDonald, the owner of a dairy farm in Hatley, near Lennoxville in the Eastern Townships.

He has between 70 and 75 cows, 36 of which are dairy cows.

He said its as difficult to find qualified help as it is to fixa date when a farmer can actually leave on vacation, because it depends on various conditions on the farm.

And when farmers are sick, MacDonald said, they usually just suffer through it.

You kind of just work through it. Maybe you have some pretty bad days but you work through it, he said.

Thats why the Victoriaville-based Centre for Social Innovation in Agriculture has put together a farmer-replacement program.

Farmers need a break

About 30 farmers are participating in the pilot project, which is run by Michel Gendreau.

Gendreau said agricultural workers are twice as likely to suffer psychological distress than the average Canadian.

The owner needs to take a break sometimes, Gendreau said.

Its hard for farmers to trust their livelihoods in other peoples hands. MacDonald said it would be worrisome to have someone unfamiliar with his farming methods and schedule taking care of his animals, and said it would require quite a bit of training.

Thats where people like Guillaume Spnard come in. The son of a farmer, he has been working in the sector since he was 10 years old but does not have his own farm.

So far Ive done 24 farms with 24 different methods. You have to adapt, Spnard said.

Gendreau hopes to expand the program, based out of the Victoriaville CEGEP, to cover the entire agriculture-focusedCentre-du-Qubec region.