Context
The modes of establishment for the next generation of farmers have undergone significant changes in recent years, with family farm transfers increasingly giving way to the creation of new businesses. These new establishment models, referred to as "non-family" or "unrelated" models, come with their own challenges, particularly regarding access to agricultural assets and financing. Alongside existing support practices for new farmer establishments, such as matchmaking services and agricultural business incubators, a new type of initiative has recently emerged in Quebec: "agricultural motels". These innovative initiatives aim to provide shared production infrastructures to host agricultural enterprises. However, agricultural motels face several challenges, including issues of identification, recognition, operational aspects, and sustainability.
Project Objectives
Through a co-construction approach centered around a community of practice, this project seeks to support the development and sustainability of agricultural motels in Quebec. It aims to produce a detailed profile of existing agricultural motels, their target users, and their current and potential host environments.
The project also intends to establish a community of practice focused on the challenges facing agricultural motels. This community will be supported through knowledge transfer, the sharing of tools, and the organization of collective intelligence activities.
What is an Agricultural Motel?
Here is the definition recently adopted by four organizations spearheading these emerging initiatives within Quebec's agricultural landscape:
"An agricultural motel is an organization (with varying legal forms) whose mission is to bring together, on a single site, several tenant farming businesses or relatively autonomous commercial activities of the same social economy enterprise. The organization provides access to shared production infrastructures and/or equipment to facilitate agricultural and agri-food establishment."