Welcome to the UPA

OUR VALUES

The Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) is a professional farmers’union organization. Its main purpose and its action are based on values: respect for the individual, solidarity, collective action, social justice, fairness, democracy.

OUR MISSION

In compliance with these values, the chief mission of the UPA is to promote, defend and develop the professional, economic, social and moral interests of Québec’s farm producers, without distinction as to race, nationality, gender, language or beliefs.

In addition, in constant interaction with all of Québec society, the UPA helps to improve living conditions of rural communities at the social, economic and cultural levels.

Finally, the UPA recognizes that Québec agriculture exists within the context of global interactions and, consequently, that it can associate with the collective action of farm producers groups in Canada and elsewhere in the world.

FUNDAMENTAL GUIDING PRINCIPLES

To translate its mission into concrete and committed actions, the UPA respects certain principles that have been defined throughout the years and that still serve to guide our decisions regarding directions influencing our future development.

Our guiding principles specify that:

1	The UPA groups together and represents all agricultural and wood producers of Quebec, regardless of the size or structure of their operations, the production that they are engaged in or the place that they live.
2	In order to preserve its independence, the union-related activities of the UPA are funded exclusively through fees levied equally on all farm producers and by contributions based on farming and forestry production volumes.
3	The members control the trade-union structure, notably through the democratic functioning of its organizations, the vitality of its union operations and its funding.
4	Collective interests must always take priority over individual or sectorial interests, when deciding on actions to be prioritized, or services to be developed.
5	Collective actions, claims and demands, the maintaining of public support, and the establishment of partnerships are the preferred methods used by the UPA in supporting its strategic orientations.
6	Through its decisions and actions, the UPA promotes the preservation and development of human-scale businesses, essentially owned by families who keep control of the management and decision-making.
7	Incomes of farm and forestry producers must be adequate to provide fair compensation based on their production costs, primarily through their joint marketing plans, but also by various complementary mechanisms, which may be necessary due to the cyclical and structural characteristics particular to these sectors.
8	Protection of the agricultural zone, and the priority of agricultural activities within the zone, are essential for the practice of the profession and the development of agriculture.
9	Environmental protection and the development of sustainable agricultural and forestry production are fundamental elements to ensure the long-term survival of agriculture, forests, as well as farm and forestry-dependant businesses.
10	Appropriate strategies must be implemented to support young people’s access to the profession and to agricultural and forestry unionism.
11	Access to training and advisory services in agriculture and forestry is essential to the development of farming and forestry businesses and must be guaranteed to all Quebec producers.
12	The quality of life of agricultural and forestry producers remains a constant concern, expressed particularly through the prevention of accidents and work-related illness.