The ups and downs of an epic journey

In any adventure worthy of the name, there will be challenges and obstacles to overcome. Here is some news, both good and not so good, that will have an impact on the next stages of our project.

Construction

The Commission de la protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ) shared its preliminary orientation with us early this week. Let's just say it didn't go the way we were hoping.

In their opinion, the distillery is not "a farm product processing activity," which means it should not be built in the location we proposed in our application. Obviously, we believe this opinion is unfounded.

However, the process gives us permission to appeal this decision and request a hearing. The notary handling the file and our lawyers will take care of this in the coming days.

I have often spoken about the risks of moving forward with this project, hoping for a positive response on the first try. With a negative response, there could be a delay of about six months before construction work begins.

I will keep you posted on the matter.

Agriculture

With the arrival of fall, the agricultural side of the project is drawing to a close for the season. The fields look beautiful, and we regularly receive positive feedback from residents admiring Gautier's good work this summer.

On the other hand, despite all our efforts and cover crops, there are still traces of weeds in some fields. Gautier will study this and develop a game plan for us for spring 2023.

Next week, we will have the first inspection to register our land as organic.

Until then, there is a lot of work ahead of us. With the particularly mild and sunny fall this year, we will be carrying out drainage work that was recommended for us to improve the land's yield. We also have a few pieces of equipment to purchase before the 2023 harvest. Next spring, our farm hardware will be expanding!

*Update as of October 25, 2022

Thank you for all the words of encouragement following the announcement of the pause in the work, with the uncertainty regarding the location of the distillery, following the CPTAQ's decision.

We have made quite a bit of progress on this file, and my confidence level in a positive decision is actually very high.

Our lawyer Annie Gauthier recommended Isabelle Davies, a lawyer at BCF who has extensive experience in this type of case. We identified the shortcomings of the first application and are preparing for the public hearing.

To give you an idea of how meticulous this process is:

• In the initial application, we were missing some additional hectares and grain yield calculations;

• We had to replace certain words to describe our operations;

• We will invite the mayor of Potton and a forestry engineer to join us at the hearing;

• We will mention how our project aligns with the development goals of the Memphrémagog MRC.

Also, I discussed our project with the heads of the local Estrie chapter of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA). They are in favour of the distillery.

If you ever know anyone looking to embark on a food processing project on agricultural land, I would be happy to share with them the lessons I've learned from the application we submitted.

Also, we passed the organic pre-certification inspection with flying colours! This means that our first harvest in 2023 has a good chance of being certified, and we will be able to have our first batch of whisky certified. Congratulations to Gautier!

Martin