Agro-food industry: could generate $5.3 million in Gatineau

City prepares a new approach to agriculture

Gatineau is currently in a tender process to get professional help from experts to mount their Development Plan for the Agriculture Zone and Activities (PDZAA, for the French term of this zone, Plan de développement de la zone et des activités agricoles).

The aim of this plan, which is part of the Land Use Management and Development Plan, is to showcase the full potential of agriculture in Gatineau. The City has set aside $75,000 to build the plan, to be completed within five years.

According to city documents, “Agricultural activity in Gatineau is called upon to play a more important role, especially concerning food security, with a growing population.”

Over the last decade, the population of Gatineau grew by over 20,000 and this growth does not appear to be slowing down. It is by protecting agricultural lands, by diversifying and intensifying agricultural development in Gatineau, that the city aims to increase agricultural activities.

And, it is through the PDZAA that the city aims, in keeping with the Land Use Management Plan, to “give preferential treatment to new farming businesses, to strengthen existing enterprises, to enable the strengthening and diversification of agricultural activities; with the goal of moving towards trends in permaculture, horticulture, greenhouse production, etc.”

The PDZAA that Gatineau is developing will be similar to the Development Plan for the Agriculture Zone (PDZA, in French), but Gatineau’s new one “will cover the entirety of the territory of the city, not just the Agricultural Zone, because, really, agriculture encompasses much more than just the Agricultural Zone.”

In effect, with this plan, Gatineau aims to support “urban agricultural practices at the heart of community living and as a complement to the declared agricultural territory.” The PDZAA will also serve as a tool to progressively introduce urban agriculture to Gatineau.

The plan notes that, gradually, “vegetable gardens, living walls and roofs, fruit trees, as well as edible landscaping will be authorized in urban sectors.” Other activities will also be permitted in less densely populated neighbourhoods.

“So long as they are set away from densely inhabited neighbourhoods, community gardens and other agricultural activities will be permitted, such as converting parcels of school yards into vegetable and fruit gardens. In Industrial and Institutional Zones, beehives will be permitted on roofs. And under certain conditions, greenhouses can be permitted on roofs of commercial, industrial and institutional buildings.”

Besides contributing to food security, Gatineau hopes the plan will help “agriculture to play a full role as an economic engine.” And, according to MAPAQ, “Agro-food industries generate over $5.3 million for Gatineau. Besides the hundreds of jobs directly associated with agricultural production, over 9,900 jobs and 1,195 establishments in secondary or tertiary sectors rely on the agro-food industry. Food and drink processing alone generates some 200 jobs in twenty processing companies.” (Trans.: LR)