A report to the Quebec cabinet calls on farmers to emulate the cheesemakers, who have gone from producing three kinds of cheese - white, yellow and marbled yellow and white cheddar - to produce a wide variety of quality cheeses.
"With fine cheeses, we offer products that consumers used to look for in other places, like France for instance," says Jean Pronovost, who led the three-member committee in writing the report.
"It has gotten to the point that now that when you go to a restaurant, they offer you a cheese plate with Quebec cheese," Pronovost said yesterday after making the report public.
"We are offering consumers what they want and not just what we can produce," he added.
"We can develop other things."
The committee, named two years ago, has recommended the diversification of Quebec's farm production and the phasing out of income insurance.
Instead of being a quantity producer of food commodities, like milk, pork, fowl and eggs, accounting for 54 per cent of Quebec's animal production, the Commission sur l'avenir de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire québécois, suggests Quebec farmers move upmarket, producing a greater variety of foods and more organic foods.
The cheese model could be applied to maple syrup, and other foods, the report suggests.
"I would hope consumers read this document," said Pascale Tremblay, a agronomist and committee member."The ball is in their camp. They have a role to play for agriculture in Quebec."
The existing model, fuelled by billions of dollars in subsidies under Quebec's Farm Income Insurance Program, encourages overproduction of commodity products that don't always have markets, further depressing prices.
The report notes that between 1986 and 2006, Quebec corn producers, drawing on the insurance program, increased corn production by 85 per cent, while Ontario corn producers, better attuned to market signals, because they have no similar insurance program, decreased corn production by 9 per cent.
The authors also note that the entry costs for young farmers is high. To start a dairy farm, it costs $30,000 for the quota to own one cow. Small farm operations are not viable. Farmers carry huge debt loads and even with income insurance, low prices can make their continued operations difficult.
The report suggests encouraging more part-time farmers, more small and specialized farms, a push for organic farming and "food sovereignty," to increase the 10 per cent Quebec-grown food in consumer shopping carts.
Sidney Ribaux, coordinator of the environmentalist group Équiterre, said he is satisfied with most of the recommendations.
"The report is basically proposing to massively support the transition of farmers to organic production, for example," Ribaux said. "This is exactly the direction that Équiterre thinks that agriculture and food should be heading in Quebec."