As milkweed producers, as agricultural producers and entrepreneurs, we are visionaries, multidisciplinary people with values, and above all, we have an action plan. Our fields are not waiting; we are optimizing our cultivation and harvesting techniques. We rolled up our sleeves, surrounded ourselves with the expertise we needed in Quebec and internationally, and are now focused on solutions and innovation. Over the past few years, thanks to our perseverance and determination, and in collaboration with our partners, we have made major progress in the Quebec milkweed project.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”– Albert Einstein.
Coopérative Monark has been on this adventure since its inception in 2012. We were among those who started from scratch in Quebec. When we look back, we see our successes, and certainly our less successful ones. We had to start somewhere, right? But what makes us proud today is seeing all the progress we have contributed to, thanks to the funds we have personally invested as members of our cooperative and the infinite time we have devoted to it all. And above all, Coopérative Monark is still there, in research and solutions mode, in collaboration and cooperation mode.
“There is no longer any doubt that Coopérative Monark bounces back every time in the face of challenges. Yesterday, today, and again tomorrow…” – Marie-Noël Breton, Project Manager.
Building a structured and strong milkweed industry
It’s a fact: working in silos hasn’t allowed milkweed fiber to achieve the success it was intended for. Collaboration and cooperation have yielded the best results to date.
That being said, we milkweed producers don’t just want to sell a harvest. We are committed to developing a different, sustainable agriculture and want our work to be valued. Achieving accomplishments, being involved in a Quebec industry, and contributing to it gives meaning to our tireless efforts. In a context where distress is affecting today’s agriculture, working together takes on its full meaning.
In such a young sector, we are at the stage of sitting down together, listening to each other, learning about each other’s realities, exchanging possible solutions, pooling our expertise, improving and thus building a fair value chain for all the players involved.
From the field to the formatting of an exceptional fiber
Coopérative Monark builds with this overall vision: from field to transformation.
Four years ago, when it resumed its research and development activities, the cooperative went to the Université de Sherbrooke to meet with the fiber its producers produce. Not the fiber dreamed up by a processor… not the fiber produced by hand, a utopia… A semi-mechanized harvest yesterday, a mechanized harvest soon, in the short term. A harvest extracted using processes that need to be perfected, we know this; we are already actively working on it in 2025.
The question was: Can we develop a quality processing from this fiber ? Can we start somewhere now ? We then consulted the best international experts working with processes never before used for milkweed, and their answer was unanimously yes. Today, Coopérative Monark has very interesting and promising results for the industry and the establishment of a new agricultural culture.
In conclusion, milkweed producers, we are far from inactive and in standby mode. We are committed entrepreneurs with the goal of building a structured, strong, and above all, fair Quebec milkweed industry for all stakeholders; from our fields to manufacturers, including pollinators and the monarch butterfly.
Marie-Noël Breton
Entrepreneure agricole, passionnée par la diversité florale et la pollinisation, Marie-Noël Breton a la fibre de l’innovation ! Membre de la coopérative depuis 2017 et aujourd'hui chargée de projet, elle a pour objectifs de promouvoir cette fibre locale aux propriétés exceptionnelles et rassembler les industries québécoises dans ce projet unique au monde !
