From the Swiss Alps to Abitibi: The Right Equipment, The Right Partner, Building A Farm Rooted in Fit

There's a particular kind of pressure that follows small farms. Not the pressure of the weather, or the markets, or the early mornings, but instead, the kind of pressure that comes from the outside. The voice that says: grow or get out. Scale up or fall behind. If you're not getting bigger, you're moving in the wrong direction.

Christel and Sylvain heard that voice and made a different choice.

Ferme des Praz sits in Abitibi, Québec, but their story didn’t start there. In the mid-1970s, Christel's grandfather, living in Switzerland at the time, faced a problem that would shape three generations of his family: not enough land. His two sons wanted to farm, so the family did what farming families do when the land runs out – they looked for land and immigrated to Quebec in 1975.

A generation later, the same pressure surfaced again. The land that had supported Christel’s father and his family could no longer stretch to the next generation. So when it came time for Christel to find her own path, she and her husband Sylvain looked north to Témiscamingue, buying land and starting with their first 30 cows in Abitibi.

Today, Ferme des Praz is a mixed operation built around a herd of beef cattle, diversified seasonal work, and a direct-to-community kiosk that Christel has been quietly building into something the region has started to notice. But like every decision her family has made across three generations and two continents, the farm was built with a clear philosophy at its centre.

"We're not trying to be the biggest farm," Christel says. "We're trying to be the best version of what we are." And every decision runs through that filter:

The herd size.
The crops.
The kiosk.
And the equipment.

The Choice Made on Purpose

Sylvain handles most of the machine work. Christel manages the broader operation – the animals, the direct sales, the planning, the rhythm that holds everything together through the seasons. Between them, the farm moves through the year with a clarity of purpose that took time to build and isn't something either of them takes lightly.

The Kubota fleet they've built reflects the philosophy of the farm itself. Not the largest machines on the market, but the right machines for the scale they've chosen. Tractors and loaders that handle what Ferme des Praz actually needs: haying, feeding, field work, seasonal maintenance. Versatile enough to move between tasks without a second machine waiting in the yard and reliable enough to not become the thing the whole day revolves around.

"With Kubota, we have what we need," Sylvain says. "Nothing more, nothing less. It fits the farm."

For Christel and Sylvain, that approach came from doing the work, season after season.

History Has a Way of Repeating Itself

Christel's father farmed before her. He worked the land with the same quiet commitment she brought to Ferme des Praz, and he ran into the same problems that come with haying season in Québec – tight weather windows, heavy workloads, and equipment that doesn't always cooperate.

Beyond machines, they were looking for a partner and they found him at KNEK through Luc, who was part of the Temiskaming Shores team at the time. And it only took one Sunday to confirm that they had made the right choice.

285 Bales and a Closing Weather Window

Haying season in Abitibi moves on its own schedule. When the weather window opens, it doesn’t stay open for long and on a farm the size of Ferme des Praz, losing that time can affect the rest of the season.

Spring 2022, on a Sunday afternoon during hay season, their baler went down mid-field. The forecast was giving them one more day at best. The old equipment kept jamming and Sylvain was having to stop, troubleshoot, try again, then just get jammed again. They weren’t making any progress.

Christel immediately called Luc asking for a loaner to help them through. He arrived the next morning with a replacement baler and tractor, and he didn’t just hand over the keys. He understood that their operation couldn’t afford to lose the day, so he stayed and worked alongside them, helping them bale the rest of the field until all 285 bales were done. No pressure to buy, no conditions.

Inside the farmhouse, Christel's daughter Béatrice was washing dishes. She looked out the window at Luc working and said, matter-of-factly: "He's kind, your Kubota man."

More Than a Dealer

This gesture marked the beginning of a genuine relationship of trust between Ferme des Praz and KNEK. For Christel and Sylvain, that day demonstrated that a good partner does more than simply sell a machine: they understand the work, the risks, and the realities faced by the people who use it.
That same understanding was evident when Christel shared her vision of developing a farm stand to sell directly to the community. Recognizing the project's importance to both the farm and the region, the KNEK team embraced the idea and supported her every step of the way as the business entered this exciting new phase of growth.

That relationship extended further when Jean-Sébastien, Ag Product Specialist for Western Quebec, got involved in a farm event Christel organized – a community gathering that brought 400 to 500 visitors to Ferme des Praz. Kubota came as a supportive partner, not a vendor.

"They understand what we're building here," Christel says. "They don't try to change it. They just support it."

That's the version of partnership that Ferme des Praz was looking for. A dealer who treats a small farm with the same seriousness as the largest operation in the region, because the work is real, the stakes are real, and the people doing it deserve to be taken seriously.

With the kiosk taking shape and the herd healthy, Ferme des Praz looks exactly like what Christel and Sylvain set out to build. For them, the right land, the right equipment, and the right people around them have never been a luxury - they are simply how the work gets done, and how it will keep getting done.

Christel Groux and Sylvain Fleurant are the owners of Ferme des Praz, a family beef and forage operation based in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Québec. They have been Kubota customers since 2022.