Quebec family cranberry farm passes to third generation — SkimNews
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- Denis Bédard founded Atocas Bédard in Villeroy, Quebec in 1992 after a helicopter ride over Massachusetts cranberry fields convinced him to switch careers — he was the province's fourth cranberry grower at a time when Quebec now has about 80, according to his son Patrick.
- Patrick Bédard and Nancy Goudreau left Montreal-area sales careers to take over the farm in 2005, and within three years Patrick had built a modern packing plant and pushed into European export markets.
- Atocas Bédard reduced its exports after global shipping-container shortages and port delays in 2020 disrupted deliveries to major international buyers, and spent subsequent years improving production methods before cautiously resuming overseas growth.
- Gabriel and Camil Bédard, ages 26 and 29, are preparing to take over as co-presidents within three years; their grandfather Denis, who died in 2022, had placed his shares in trust for the brothers, who both studied agricultural business and accounting before joining the company.
- Atocas Bédard acquired one of Nova Scotia's largest cranberry producers and packers in 2025, adding a second packing house, 85 acres of cranberries and 275 acres of highbush blueberries, with Port of Halifax access for international shipping.
- Quebec now produces 340 million pounds of cranberries yearly — 24% of the global market — driven largely by family businesses, according to Vincent Godin, president of the Quebec Cranberry Producers Association; Atocas Bédard's 350 acres make it one of the province's largest producers.
Why it matters: Quebec's 24% share of the global cranberry market is built on family operations like Atocas Bédard, making the third-generation handover a test case for whether informal family-council governance can scale alongside international expansion — especially as the company relaunches European exports with extra caution after the 2020 shipping collapse exposed how exposed those buyers left it.
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