L'Ange Gardien: A Model Incubator Farm
Currently, Canadian farmers continue to struggle with the trends and challenges associated with conventional agriculture embedded in a globalized food system. These trends include globalization broadly, and the resulting effects of the cost-price squeeze, urbanization, changing rural demographics and environmental change. This case study uncovered significant information through a series of interviews with 7 participants who farm at La Plateforme Agricole de L’Ange Gardien in rural Quebec.
A key finding was that the two most significant benefits to farming at La Plateforme were access to financial capital and social capital. For many farmers, money and financing is a challenge. Another significant finding was that working in close proximity to other farmers and sharing resources offers its own set of benefits and challenges. However, all participants felt that the benefits outweighed the challenges. All the farmers expressed the social benefits of having access to farm neighbours close for knowledge and resource sharing.