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Estimate of number of certified producers 150 - 1990; 89 - 1986
At the time of registration of agricultural enterprises in Quebec, in Sept 1990, they were asked if they practice biological agriculture:
- 1845 - yes
2484 - in part = > 4329 yes or in part of 38031
33702 - no
- vegetables is the most important type of production ; generally on 2-15 acres, rarely on more than 20 acres
- 15 certified milk producers, but several hundred in transition
Estimate of market 5 Million farm gate
10 M retail
10 M imports
20 M total of organic sold in Québec
About 3 million of products of vegetable origin are produced and 2 million of animal products ; represents about 1% of the agricultural sector in Québec; estimate 5% by 2000
Looks at the CREAQ budget for carrots:
- based on 12 producers with 4 to 15 years experience and certified
| COSTS | Organic $/hectare | Conventional $/hectare |
| seed, fertilizers, containers, cultural operations without including labour |
1448 | 986 |
| storage, marketing, transport labour | 12008 | 1897 |
Variable costs for organic 4.6 times higher, but revenue was 5 times higher since they assume $25/master versus $5 for conventional.
Based on this he states that organic producers have no choice but to sell their products at higher price than conventional.
Price Waterhouse poll, published May 1990 for Canadian Consumers' Assoc. and Agriculture Canada - poll in Feb/90, 1500 adults across Canada, 25% of adults are very concerned with the security of their food; concerned mainly with pollution, use of pesticides and hygiene conditions
There are 15 million consumers within 500 miles of Montreal; this is a potential market that he sees worth exploiting.
Financial support - MAPAQ gave $100,000 to help a sectoral committee for organic agriculture to put together norms to get the OCIPB operational so that the Québec Vrai label for organic products would be used.
An additional $300,000 was allocated by MAPAQ to publicize Québec Vrai (in general) with the public.
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