Agropur’s Young Cooperative Leaders Program celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022. As a core commitment of the Cooperative, the program embodies the importance of training and cooperative education for young producers.

Although the program’s formula has changed over time, its goal of educating young people between the ages of 18 and 35 about the principles of cooperative governance and associative life has not. Agropur is proud to have trained more than 1,600 young people since 1983.

Rewarding Experience

One of those young people is Patrick LeBlanc. A 2017 program participant, the producer from Memramcook, New Brunswick (Atlantic region), came away from the program strengthened by his meetings with other young producers.

“It was a great opportunity to build a network for myself, exchange ideas and learn how they do things on their farms.”

His participation in the program activities gave him a better understanding of his cooperative, its organizational structure and history, and how social capital works. One experience he particularly appreciated was visiting the Granby plant with his cohort to see the processing operations in action. “It was a completely different reality, and I was happy to discover it. The whole health and food safety aspect and the steps at the plant leading up to marketing were impressive,” recalls Patrick.

Returning home 10 years ago now to work on the family farm, Willie A. LeBlanc & Sons, Patrick LeBlanc encourages all young people who are eligible to participate in the program. “Any young person who has the time or whose parents can do without them for a few days should really jump in. It’s important to learn about the Cooperative to understand how things work and how decisions are made.”

Registration is Now Open

Registration is now open for the 41st cohort of the Young Cooperative Leaders Program. A total of 17 young people will have the unique opportunity to learn more about their cooperative. To participate, you must be a family member, partner or employee of a member farm and have plans to start working on the farm. To register your farm’s young leader, fill out the registration form and send it to your Cooperative Advisor or to [email protected].

Applicants who applied in the past but were not selected may register again this year. We will accept registrations up until the Regional Meeting in your area. The meeting schedule is available on the Members Extranet. For more information, contact your Cooperative Advisor, whose contact information can be found on your Milk Payment Statement and on the Extranet.