We are a boutique firm of agri-food experts specializing in analysis and strategy.

Our mission and passion :

Our consulting expertise in economics enables companies and organizations throughout this industry:

• To better understand the challenges they face;
• To devise customized strategies;
• To implement effective and beneficial/profitable actions in order to achieve their development objectives.

Our values are clear. Our commitment :

• Dedicated, high-calibre professionals: state-of-the-art expertise, diligence, rigorous scientific approach, in-depth analyses.
• Reality-based: objectivity, integrity, assessment, innovation.
• Client tailored: accessibility, customized approach, open-mindedness, teamwork.
• Measurable and concrete results, client tailored deliverables.
• Total discretion.

Our reputation sets us apart!

We specialize in the agri-food industry.

We are active in the three key sectors of this industry: production, processing, and distribution.

More specifically, we work with:

• Sectorial associations;
• Agricultural enterprises such as farms;
• Processing and packaging companies;
• Distribution and retail outlets;
• Input producers and suppliers;
• Firms specializing in finance, Research and Development (R&D), extension services to firms, etc.
• The public sector (federal, provincial and municipal).

Our markets: Quebec, Canada and worldwide.

A specialized boutique firm at the service of the agri-food industry!

On-site team

• Jean-François Forest, agronomist, M.Sc.
  Consulting Economist, founding partner

  Mr. Forest has worked in the agricultural and food industries for 30 years. He has developed extensive expertise in strategic consulting to organizations, in conducting economic studies, in the analysis of sectorial competitiveness, and in project management. After completing his Master's degree in Agricultural Economics, he has worked as an agricultural economist in the fields of teaching, research, farm unionization, consulting and international development.

  Jean-François Forest is a member of the Ordre des agronomes du Québec and holds both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Agricultural Economics from McGill University.

• Gilbert Lavoie, agronomist, M.Sc.
  Consulting Economist, founding partner

  Mr. Lavoie has an in-depth knowledge of the agricultural and food industries. He has vast experience in his field and specializes in strategic consulting to firms, as well as in management coaching and sectorial collaboration. After earning his Master's degree in Agricultural Economics, he has worked as an agricultural economist in the areas of management, market intelligence, extension services, marketing, and farm unionization.

  Gilbert Lavoie is a member of the Ordre des agronomes du Québec and holds a Bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from McGill University.

• Mr. Tougas joined the Forest Lavoie Conseil team in January 2014. From 2005 to 2014, Mr. Tougas worked as an economist for the Direction Recherche et politiques agricole (DREPA) under the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA). Among his duties with the UPA, Mr. Tougas handled matters relating to income security of agricultural producers as well as the agricultural municipal property tax.

  Before joining the UPA, Mr. Tougas worked for more than five years as a farm account director for Desjardins.

  Mr. Tougas is a McGill University graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Economics. He is a member of the Ordre des agronomes du Québec. He was raised on a dairy and grain farm in southern Quebec.

• Claude Hamel, agronomist, M.Sc.
  Project manager

  A project manager at Forest Lavoie Conseil since 2012, Mrs. Hamel works on the advancement of numerous projects in the fields of sectorial or market analysis, collaboration, and action/strategy plans. As a team member, she makes special contributions to projects with socio-economic components.

  Before joining the team, Mrs. Hamel worked as a project officer for the Fédération des producteurs maraîchers du Québec, and headed a variety of different agronomic, anthropological and environmental projects in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

  Claude Hamel holds a personalized Master's degree and a DESS in integrated rural development, as well as a Bachelor's degree in agronomics from Université Laval. Mrs. Hamel is a member of the Ordre des agronomes du Québec.

High-calibre, meticulous professionals with integrity!

In the rollout of its contracts, depending on the nature of the analyses with which it is entrusted, Forest Lavoie Conseil is able to rely on the support of the following expert collaborators:

• Peter Goldsmith
  Peter Goldsmith, Associate Professor and Interim Director, Food & Agribusiness with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, and Interim Director of the Food and Agribusiness Management Program (FAM) and executive editor of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review (IFAMR). http://ace.illinois.edu/directory/peter-d-goldsmith
• John C.M. Henning
  John C.M. Henning, Associate Professor and Program Director for Agricultural Economics at McGill University http://agrecon.mcgill.ca/staff/henning.htm

Furthermore, for major projects requiring diversified and multidisciplinary expertise, Forest Lavoie Conseil will team up with additional selected partners.

High-calibre, meticulous professionals with integrity!

Our analyses and strategies are customized. Our values are clear: high-calibre professionals, reality-based, client tailed approach, measurable and concrete results, as well infallible discretion at all times.

We help our clients to:

• Better understand the challenges they face:
  • Economic, financial and feasibility analyses.
  • Sectorial and organizational diagnostics (SWOT).
  • Market studies.
  • Quantitative and qualitative surveys.
• Devise customized strategies:
  • Strategic consulting.
  • Strategic planning.
  • Action and business plans.
• Implement effective and beneficial/profitable actions:
  • Coaching.
  • Conciliation/collaboration/mediation.
  • Support during implementation of action plan.
  • Project management.

Competence, pragmatism, efficiency, results!