Marie‑Pier and Alexandre: Teaming up to make the right calls in the field

“What I like most about Marie‑Pier is that you can tell she’s working for us, for our farm.” That’s what farmer Alexandre Vermette has to say about Marie‑Pier Coulombe, his Agiska Coopérative crop agri‑advisor. What they’ve built is much more than a simple business relationship—it’s a real partnership.

Ferme J.P. Vermette et fils, in St-Simon-de-Bagot, Montérégie, grows 1,950 acres of grain corn, soybeans and cereals and turns out 36,000 swine every year. Alexandre is in charge of crops. Everything he grows is processed on the farm and fed to the swine.

Alexandre co‑owns the farm with his cousins Philippe, Mathieu and Caroline. Being a family business makes the farm stronger. But when you’re running a company this big, it’s important to have experts in your corner. Alexandre needed a trusted advisor to help him make the right decisions.

That’s where Marie-Pier came in. “We spend the winter getting ready for the next season,” she says. “We look at what worked and what didn’t and use that as a baseline for improvement.”

During the warmer months, Marie-Pier spends a lot of time in the field with Alexandre. “I visit the farm at least five times each spring,” she says. “Then another few times in the summer to adjust our strategies based on what’s happening in the field.”

Alexandre has no trouble following her recommendations. “She knows more than me about which crop protection products to use,” he says.

Marie-Pier has plenty of experience to draw on: she grew up on a farm and is a vegetable, field crop and swine farmer herself. “It’s a big plus to know that she grew up around here and has the knowledge and experience to offer good advice,” says Alexandre.

Farm first

Marie-Pier took over her role from a colleague, Pierre Perreault, when he retired in 2019. Her relationship with Alexandre has always been easy, and the two find they get along naturally.

Today, Marie-Pier sees herself as being there to provide support and guidance.

For example, Marie-Pier and Alexandre decided to change their crop protection application strategy for summer 2024. Instead of applying three products at once, they’re going to try two applications with a different product. This will hopefully put less stress on the plants, which often have a hard enough time just surviving the weather.

“It’s something I’d been thinking about for a long time, but I needed someone with Marie‑Pier’s expertise to sign off on the idea,” says Alexandre.

Marie-Pier isn’t afraid to question certain strategies or suggest more profitable alternatives. “We work for our farmers. When they win, we win!”

Big network, small world

For farmers like Alexandre, there are plenty of reasons to do business with a big network like Sollio Agriculture:

• Reliable source of fertilizer

• Dividends proportional to the farm’s transactions with the cooperative

• Informative events

• Opportunities to test new products like biostimulants

• And more!

But the best part has been how closely he gets to work with his agri-advisor and his cooperative. Marie-Pier agrees: “Agiska’s like a family.” Every year for Co‑op Week, she brings Alexandre the good stuff: Agiska beer, brewed by Le Bilboquet microbrewery.

“Yeah, and it’s warm!” laughs Alexandre. “We don’t even drink it together!”

“There’s always next year!” says Marie-Pier.