Partner Spotlight: Groupe ProConseil, a partner at the heart of our projects in Quebec

 

A partner of FoodBridge since 2023, the advisors at Groupe ProConseil help to anchor our projects around a shared vision of sustainable agricultural transition, and a supply chain approach as the structuring lever. Founded in 1968, this non-profit organization brings together 26 advisors and supports more than 500 agricultural businesses, half of which are engaged in agri-environmental work.

 

Ongoing involvement in FoodBridge projects

The collaboration between Groupe ProConseil and FoodBridge began during the early reflections of the Guarding the Grain for a Sustainable Future project in Montérégie, with Cécile Tartera, agronomist and agri-environment advisor at ProConseil. It continues today through the active participation of several of their advisors across our projects.

Catherine Mercier, agronomist and agri-environment advisor, is a member of our Quebec committee and contributes to strategic discussions and project direction, while fostering collaboration between existing initiatives. More broadly, Groupe ProConseil’s involvement in the Communicating ROI for the Agro-Environmental Transition project mobilizes key expertise, with Cécile contributing on agri-environmental practices and Vincent Boucher, agronomist and farm management advisor, addressing agroeconomic issues.

This engagement also extends to other FoodBridge initiatives, including our agroecology cohort and the Future Generations project, which aims to train college-level agriculture students in a supply chain-based approach.

This cross-mobilization of expertise reflects Groupe ProConseil’s multidisciplinary positioning, made possible by its organizational structure. The organization is one of the few advisory organizations in Quebec that brings together, within a single organization, expertise in agri-environment, farm management, accounting, farm succession planning, and agricultural psychology.

 

A shared vision of transition through the supply chain

For Catherine, “the long-term adoption of agri-environmental practices must rely not only on producers’ willingness and technical know-how, but also on the entire agri-food supply chain”.

According to Groupe ProConseil, for agri-environmental practices to be sustained over time, they must be supported by concrete market opportunities. At FoodBridge, we share this perspective: a collaborative supply chain approach helps build connections between producers and downstream actors. This enables a better understanding of respective challenges and supports the adoption of agri-environmental practices within a collective and structured framework.

 

Agri-environmental support focused on practices

Since 1998, Groupe ProConseil’s agri-environment division has supported agricultural businesses in Montérégie through trusted relationships between agronomists and producers, combining:

• Individual on-farm interventions (soil health and fertility, water management, fertilization, integrated pest management, biodiversity, regulatory services, grant applications, etc.);
• Collective activities that encourage peer-to-peer knowledge and experience sharing;
• Collective-scale projects conducted in collaboration with research organizations and technical partners, including the development of tools and guides for the agricultural sector.

This approach is grounded in independent expertise, which Cécile summarizes as follows: “We are experts in what doesn’t sell.” In other words, specialized support focused on long-term agronomic solutions rather than short-term fixes.