When André Gosselin says that a man of action must be both a man of science and a man of ideas, it’s more than mere words. In fact, Gosselin has been transforming the way an entire province looks at the future of farming with his ability to turn trends and theories into concrete money-makers.
Now, more farmers, analysts and investors from across the country are watching Gosselin to see if they can figure out how to replicate his successes on their own turf.
He doesn’t see why they can’t.
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Gosselin may not talk in terms of a recipe for a success but he’s sure he knows the ingredients, starting with the ability to get past the word “can’t,” whether that “can’t” is being used because the technology isn’t right, the location isn’t right, or because the idea just doesn’t sound like farming.
Whether his businesses are tecnhnically farms or not, Gosselin’s success in creating new businesses is keeping him on the farm, and it looks like they’ll help keep the next generation of Gosselins on the farm too, and possibly the generation after that as well.
“To listen, to see the future, and a good team… generally that gives winning conditions,” Gosselin tells me.
A great team is essential, but it is only the start. Beyond teamwork, Gosselin says, is the need to engage people and pull political levers. “What’s important,” he adds “is to have projects that are relevant — that respond to needs and problems.”
Then, when you’ve got an idea that you’re convinced could be a winner, stick with it. New ideas and projects encounter negative reception. “You have to improve the idea and come back two or three times,” Gosselin says. He’s had projects come back five or six times — and the team simply improved on them each time.
Says Gosselin: “You have to be persistent and you have to truly believe that what you’re doing responds to important needs — and that it will be useful for Canadian society. When we succeed in doing that, we usually find the support of government and private partners.”
“ To Listen, To See The Future, And A Good Team… Generally That Gives Winning Conditions.”
Location isn’t everything
Gosselin and his brother Louis farm approximately 250 acres on Ile d’Orleans, an island in the St. Lawrence River downstream from Quebec City. It’s a breathtaking place with the Laurentian Mountains and Montmorency Falls on the mainland to the north and the Appalachians and ocean-bound boat traffic to the south.
“A good environment,” asserts Gosselin as he talks about the place. Alongside the natural beauty there are historic buildings at every turn in the road.
If Gosselin’s personal history is any indication, the quality of life in the area can’t be too bad either. His family is rooted in this place. Gosselin is the fifth generation to work this particular farm, but the Gosselins as a family arrived here on Ile d’Orleans 325 years ago, making his the 11th or 12th generation on the island.
Yet this particular Gosselin is also a researcher, an advocate for agricultural research, and a thought leader at Laval University, aligning his off-farm activities with his passion for agriculture.
He wants agriculture in this region to have more than a history. He wants it to have a future too. That, he explains, is why he’s a scientist who thinks in business terms.
On the home farm
The family farm business, Les Fraises de l’le d’Orléans Inc. (which translates as Strawberries of Ile d’Orleans), was founded in 1979. It’s nearly 1,000 kilometres from Guelph, Ont. but that’s where the story began, in 1977.
While studying at Guelph, Gosselin visited the Ontario Food Terminal in nearby Toronto and happened to meet wholesalers distributing Quebec-grown strawberries. The Quebec berries, which came into season as the main Ontario crop was finishing, extended the strawberry season after the Ontario crop had finished. But the wholesalers wanted more than just Quebec berries. Specifically, they wanted pre-cooled Quebec berries. Gosselin saw an opportunity, and that led to the founding of the business with family members, and a sales channel that lasted for a dozen years.
At Laval University, Gosselin directed a research team studying continuous strawberry production and small fruit production in high tunnels. So it’s no surprise that he pioneered the concept on the farm, where day-neutral strawberry production was pushed into September. Now the farm uses high tunnels for both strawberries and raspberries, stretching the harvest until the end of October.
Today the farm is growing the first nutraceutical varieties of strawberry and raspberry, which it worked to develop with Agricul-
ture and Agri-Food Canada, says Gosselin. With sales of $2.5 million, the business now employs 20 people.
The business of science
Gosselin has a PhD in horticulture and plant biology from Laval University. He become a professor in 1984, and by 1989 had founded the horticultural research centre at the university.
With the centre, the university got a dedicated horticultural research team but still had old facilities, says Gosselin. He saw that as a problem, because this was not any old research team. “We had young, productive researchers,” he says enthusiastically as he describes the energy of the group. He adds, “It continues today.”
So Gosselin set about securing funding and doing so in unconventional (for academia) ways. That’s why he is sometimes called the Father of the Envirotron, the modern horticultural research facility that resulted from these fundraising efforts. The facility, which cost $12 million and was opened in 1993 is a university building made possible with private funding.
After a stint as the department head, Gosselin took over as dean of the faculty of agriculture at Laval University in 1995 while still in his 30s.
In that role, he fostered development of the Institute of Nutraceutics and Functional Foods (INAF). “We had at Laval a very good department of food science and technology — as well as a department of nutrition,” he says. Gosselin fused the two departments to encourage collaborative work on health foods, believing that innovations of the food scientists could be verified by the team of nutritionists.
Next he set about acquiring grants to build a new facility to house the INAF, which today counts over 200 members across the country. “Extraordinary,” says Gosselin, as he glowingly describes the reaction to the INAF. “Lots and lots and lots of interest, not only from the public, but by businesses too,” he says.
Research projects focus on cereals, dairy, animal products, vegetables and fruit, and involve collaboration with other universities across Canada.
Branching out in agriculture
In 1987 Gosselin and his family cofounded Les Serres du St-Laurent Inc., a greenhouse tomato enterprise. Today the company employs 350 people, produces 220 tonnes of tomatoes per week, and has annual sales of $35 million.
As with Les Fraises de l’le d’Orléans, the inspiration for the business had an educational link. “We demonstrated at Laval University that we could grow (tomatoes) 12 months of the year with artificial lighting,” says Gosselin as he discusses how the business got started.
To compete with imports, it was important to keep costs low. “We worked with Hydro Quebec,” he says, explaining that the provincial energy supplier gave greenhouse producers electricity rates that were very competitive. A number of greenhouses in Quebec, he adds, started at that time.
Today, Les Serres du St-Laurent doesn’t produce just any tomatoes. Its tomatoes are branded as Savoura tomatoes, a premium product not to be confused with imports. While Gosselin is still a shareholder, he says he is not involved in the day-to-day operation of the company.
Gosselin has been a big promoter of functional food in academic circles. Yet he realized that there was no plant in Canada making fruit and vegetable extracts. So in 2006, Gosselin founded Nutra Canada to commercialize fruit and vegetable extracts.
The $7-million facility has been built, and at the time of writing production has been underway for about a month. So far, he says, distribution networks span Europe, Canada, and the United States. He’s been talking to people in the Maritimes, and has a meeting lined up in Ontario in a couple of weeks.
The business uses seconds — fruits and vegetables rejected by processors and the fresh market, but still suitable for extracts.
“We want to enhance the value of Canadian fruits and vegetables,” says Gosselin, pointing out that Nutra Canada focuses on crops grown in Canada such as cranberries, blueberries, broccoli, spinach, and onions. It will also be using the nutraceutic strawberries grown by Les Fraises de l’le d’Orléans — berries with elevated levels of antioxidants.
Looking ahead
In 2009 Gosselin won the Lionel-Boulet Prize, which is awarded by the Quebec government to recognize excellence in industrial research and development. This isn’t an award specifically for the agricultural sector, so having a horticulturist win the award is an affirmation of Gosselin’s knack for taking scientific ideas and developing them into practical applications for farmers.
Gosselin hopes to see more research into ways to make Canadian fruits and vegetables available for longer periods of the year. Not only does it make us less dependent on imports, he says, it brings employment and economic benefits to Canada.
I ask Gosselin where he sees himself in 10 years. “I’ll be busy with my farm on Ile d’Orleans and with my family,” he says, adding he might be retired from the university by then. “I’ll continue to grow strawberries and raspberries, that’s for certain.”
There is a 13th generation of Gosselins on Ile d’Orleans. His eldest son, Guillaume, is 24 and studying mechanical engineering; and he and his wife Linda Gaudreau also have twin five-year-olds, David and Jeanne.
Gosselin is positive about the outlook for Ile d’Orleans too. He says there is a fair bit of protected land, so he expects it to remain fairly agricultural. But he’s seeing more and more agritourism and value-added businesses, he says. “There’s lots of value added on our small farms.” CG
ture and Agri-Food Canada, says Gosselin. With sales of $2.5 million, the business now employs 20 people.
The business of science
Gosselin has a PhD in horticulture and plant biology from Laval University. He become a professor in 1984, and by 1989 had founded the horticultural research centre at the university.
With the centre, the university got a dedicated horticultural research team but still had old facilities, says Gosselin. He saw that as a problem, because this was not any old research team. “We had young, productive researchers,” he says enthusiastically as he describes the energy of the group. He adds, “It continues today.”
So Gosselin set about securing funding and doing so in unconventional (for academia) ways. That’s why he is sometimes called the Father of the Envirotron, the modern horticultural research facility that resulted from these fundraising efforts. The facility, which cost $12 million and was opened in 1993 is a university building made possible with private funding.
After a stint as the department head, Gosselin took over as dean of the faculty of agriculture at Laval University in 1995 while still in his 30s.
In that role, he fostered development of the Institute of Nutraceutics and Functional Foods (INAF). “We had at Laval a very good department of food science and technology — as well as a department of nutrition,” he says. Gosselin fused the two departments to encourage collaborative work on health foods, believing that innovations of the food scientists could be verified by the team of nutritionists.
Next he set about acquiring grants to build a new facility to house the INAF, which today counts over 200 members across the country. “Extraordinary,” says Gosselin, as he glowingly describes the reaction to the INAF. “Lots and lots and lots of interest, not only from the public, but by businesses too,” he says.
Research projects focus on cereals, dairy, animal products, vegetables and fruit, and involve collaboration with other universities across Canada.
Branching out in agriculture
In 1987 Gosselin and his family cofounded Les Serres du St-Laurent Inc., a greenhouse tomato enterprise. Today the company employs 350 people, produces 220 tonnes of tomatoes per week, and has annual sales of $35 million.
As with Les Fraises de l’le d’Orléans, the inspiration for the business had an educational link. “We demonstrated at Laval University that we could grow (tomatoes) 12 months of the year with artificial lighting,” says Gosselin as he discusses how the business got started.
To compete with imports, it was important to keep costs low. “We worked with Hydro Quebec,” he says, explaining that the provincial energy supplier gave greenhouse producers electricity rates that were very competitive. A number of greenhouses in Quebec, he adds, started at that time.
Today, Les Serres du St-Laurent doesn’t produce just any tomatoes. Its tomatoes are branded as Savoura tomatoes, a premium product not to be confused with imports. While Gosselin is still a shareholder, he says he is not involved in the day-to-day operation of the company.
Gosselin has been a big promoter of functional food in academic circles. Yet he realized that there was no plant in Canada making fruit and vegetable extracts. So in 2006, Gosselin founded Nutra Canada to commercialize fruit and vegetable extracts.
The $7-million facility has been built, and at the time of writing production has been underway for about a month. So far, he says, distribution networks span Europe, Canada, and the United States. He’s been talking to people in the Maritimes, and has a meeting lined up in Ontario in a couple of weeks.
The business uses seconds — fruits and vegetables rejected by processors and the fresh market, but still suitable for extracts.
“We want to enhance the value of Canadian fruits and vegetables,” says Gosselin, pointing out that Nutra Canada focuses on crops grown in Canada such as cranberries, blueberries, broccoli, spinach, and onions. It will also be using the nutraceutic strawberries grown by Les Fraises de l’le d’Orléans — berries with elevated levels of antioxidants.
Looking ahead
In 2009 Gosselin won the Lionel-Boulet Prize, which is awarded by the Quebec government to recognize excellence in industrial research and development. This isn’t an award specifically for the agricultural sector, so having a horticulturist win the award is an affirmation of Gosselin’s knack for taking scientific ideas and developing them into practical applications for farmers.
Gosselin hopes to see more research into ways to make Canadian fruits and vegetables available for longer periods of the year. Not only does it make us less dependent on imports, he says, it brings employment and economic benefits to Canada.
I ask Gosselin where he sees himself in 10 years. “I’ll be busy with my farm on Ile d’Orleans and with my family,” he says, adding he might be retired from the university by then. “I’ll continue to grow strawberries and raspberries, that’s for certain.”
There is a 13th generation of Gosselins on Ile d’Orleans. His eldest son, Guillaume, is 24 and studying mechanical engineering; and he and his wife Linda Gaudreau also have twin five-year-olds, David and Jeanne.
Gosselin is positive about the outlook for Ile d’Orleans too. He says there is a fair bit of protected land, so he expects it to remain fairly agricultural. But he’s seeing more and more agritourism and value-added businesses, he says. “There’s lots of value added on our small farms.” CG
