By Catherine Foissy, Republik

This time, the Republik team traveled to Rivière-Rouge to meet with Frank, the owner of the Serres Frank Zyromski greenhouses. On the agenda: rational agriculture and a project that will be revealed very shortly. Let’s take a look back: in 1972, when he was still in school, Frank bought 600 acres of land with the idea of building greenhouses.

Today the family business produces, annually, between eight and 10 million cuttings and employs up to 80 people in high season. At the same time, Frank and his daughter Julie Zyromski are at the point of revealing a project that Frank has been working on for the past nine years

Grapes in greenhouses: a dream come true

Frank has long dreamed of having his own vineyard, and what interested him was developing the wines directly by cultivating the noble vines…in greenhouses! In three of his greenhouses heated through geothermy, he manages today to grow Merlot, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Gamay and Sauvignon grape vines.

The achievement, long decried by several agronomists who specialize in viticulture, appears to be the only option for being able to grow, in Québec, the Vitis vinifera – the vine originating in a temperate region stretching from southwestern Europe to Central Asia.

“In 2012, everybody told me my project was impossible due to the lack of light or the low temperatures. We are finally ready to sell our product to restaurateurs who believe in good wine from here,” Frank explains.

The company is at the point of getting its sales licence, and it must be admitted that Frank, his family, and his sidekicks Marc and Jean-François have won their bet.

Those who like European-tradition wines will be able to find a few of their bottles on the wine-list of their preferred restaurants in the coming months.

Rational agriculture and respect for others is central to this operation

While the project is new, the values that surround it have been there since the very beginning. Care for the environment and respect for employees have always been a part of this company – awarded the Grand prix national 2016, which recognizes originality and the quality of good human resources practices at the annual symposium of AGRIcarrières.

Frank also maintains that each of the employees has something special to offer. “We have always had a very human, ecologically responsible company, well before everyone started saying that it’s important to take care of the environment and our world,” Frank notes.

On the environmental side, the company is known for its ecologically responsible processes and has many sections of its greenhouses certified organic. The company always minimizes as much as possible the use of chemical products, to protect both the employees and the environment, as is prescribed for rational agriculture.

Same thing for the three greenhouses dedicated to growing grapevines. “We don’t claim to be organic, but you can say that we are rational. We have never used chemical fertilizer and we work with organic products,” Frank adds.

For Frank, there’s no doubt that taking care of the world and of the land and soil go together.

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