Our Mission
To educate and empower growers who change the world through the simple act of growing healthy, nourishing food for their communities.
Our Vision
To multiply the number of regenerative farms around the world and create a future where humans live in harmony with nature and each other.
How it all started
When Jean-Martin Fortier and Suleyka Montpetit joined forces, they changed the future of farming. He brought his tools, techniques, and hopeful message. She brought her belief in technology’s power to change the world for the better. Together, they created The Market Gardener Institute.
2004
Discovering the path
After completing a B.S. in Environmental Studies at McGill University, travelling across the Americas to explore alternative lifestyles, and interning on organic farms in New Mexico, Jean-Martin Fortier and his wife Maude-Hélène Desroches returned to Quebec to start Les Jardins de la Grelinette in Saint-Armand.
2012
Trailblazing
Jean-Martin decided to write a book about La Grelinette, which had earned local recognition for its innovative farming model. He spent a year in a room overlooking the garden writing Le jardinier-maraîcher, which was published by Écosociété. It immediately became a surprise bestseller.
2014
Acknowledgment
The Market Gardener was published in English by New Society and quickly became one of the most influential farming books of the last decade. It won the Horticultural Society Book Award and climbed to the top of Amazon’s Farming category where it remained for years.
2015
Finding allies
Jean-Martin was approached by philanthropist André Desmarais to start Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a mentoring farm that would train the young farmers of the future. The project was conceived to provide an environment conducive to research, development, and content creation.
2016
Meeting of the minds
After working at an online education startup in California for three years, Suleyka Montpetit was introduced to Jean-Martin to help him build his online presence and amplify his message. It was at their first meeting that she suggested they create an online course.
2017
Hatching a plan
Together with videographer and photographer Alex Chabot, Jean-Martin and Suleyka set about creating an online program that could help growers everywhere succeed in their farming projects.
2018
Taking flight
After a series of eventful and popular webinars (including live crashes!), hundreds of people joined the first cohort in January. More video tutorials were created that year, and more students joined in successive cohorts, many of whom reported life-changing results from participating in the program.
2019
Learning the terrain
Running a rapidly growing online business on a shoestring budget without much experience was a learning curve that led to experimenting with new types of content. The team also presented workshops in the United States and Europe, connecting with global leaders in the field.
2020
Sustaining growth
As the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated interest in farming in a landscape that favored online education, we created new and better learning experiences, products, and resources to help even more students. Our small team expanded from four to 14.
2021
A new horizon
We launched our new identity as the Market Gardener Institute, created a new introductory course called Introduction to Market Gardening, and released an improved student experience, including an exclusive virtual community for our members.
Jean-Martin Fortier
Founder, Teacher, and Mentor
Jean-Martin is the founder, teacher, and mentor of The Market Gardener Institute. A trailblazer in the field of human-scale regenerative agriculture, he has dedicated his life to spreading the inspiring and empowering message of compassionate agriculture. Beyond his work as a farmer and educator, he is an entrepreneur, a husband, a dedicated father to his children Forest and Rose, a loyal friend, a traveller, a surfer, a bon vivant, and a lover of great food and wine.
Alex Chabot
Videographer & Photographer
Alex has been documenting the work of Jean-Martin and Maude-Hélène since their early days at the Jardins de la Grelinette. While working at various organic vineyards and orchards, he briefly considered becoming a market gardener but life eventually led him towards his passion for photography. Today, he continues to capture the revolution of human-scale, ecological agriculture.
Tania Jiménez
Art Director and Designer
Tania shapes the aesthetics and visual content across The Market Gardener Institute’s platforms and contributes to human-centered processes. Holding an interdisciplinary curriculum, she continuously questions her social role as a designer, working on engaging projects through which she can ignite change in the community. Born to swim in the ocean and climb volcanoes, Tania is an avid traveller and yoga practitioner.
Federic Senez
Director Of Business Development
Frédéric is proudly responsible for collaborating with strategic partners in the market gardening community to implement impactful initiatives. After 15 years in business development in the IT industry, he realizes his dream by investing in a vocation that brings him closer to his love of nature and its biodiversity. He is also passionate about philosophy to better understand natural phenomena.
Catherine Sylvestre
Technical Advisor
In addition to creating new educational content, Catherine has the answer to any questions from Masterclass students. She is also the Director of Vegetable Production at Ferme des Quatre-Temps, has a degree in agronomy from McGill University and has conducted extensive research in greenhouse production. Her goal is to support the resilience of small-scale farms.
Michaël Tougas
Technical Advisor
Michaël acts as a go-to contact for the student community and a creator of educational content. His three years of market gardening at Ferme des Quatre-Temps culminated in his position as manager at its second location in Port-au-Persil. His love for food and his desire to have a positive impact on the environment have motivated him to start his own farm.
Download our free e-book “Small Farms Feed The World“ and get inspired by the stories and experiences of market gardeners around the world.
