Among the management consultant support programs, there is the Programme d'appui au développement des entreprises agricoles, or the PADEA.
Since 2005, funding based on deliverables has been used as part of the Growing Forward 1 program. Recently, there was the Stratégie de soutien à l'adaptation des entreprises agricoles, another program based on deliverables aimed at helping businesses experiencing financial difficulties.
What's interesting in this new approach is the multidisciplinary aspect in the delivery of consultant services. The multidisciplinary approach means that it isn't just the management consultant working on the business; there are technical advisors as well who help identify improvements that can be made to a business.
But what facilitates the access to management consultant services is that less than 15% of agricultural businesses in Quebec use the specialized subsidized agricultural management advisory services. Too few agricultural businesses make use of these services. Keep in mind that techno-economic management contributes to the development and performance of agricultural businesses.
In our opinion, the program responds in part to the needs of producers. The program is good and we would like it to continue. But we are recommending slight modifications.