Federation of agriculture seeks to avoid stepping on commodity groups' toes
Thursday, November 26, 2015
by BETTER FARMING STAFF
Delegates to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture annual convention earlier this week have agreed that it’s time for the organization to focus on obtaining memorandums of understanding with the province’s commodity organizations.
The vast majority of meeting delegates (79.8 per cent of those who voted) opted to support an Ottawa Federation of Agriculture resolution which called for the provincial federation and commodity groups to “identify areas of responsibility and set guidelines for dealing with issues that are considered commodity specific and that should be dealt with by their respective commodity boards.”
Many people who stepped up to the microphone to share their thoughts on the motion during a pre-vote discussion recognized that the motion arose from friction between the federation and Grain Farmers of Ontario on how best to respond new provincial government regulations intended to control the use of neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds.
The federation’s decision to continue discussions with the province to try to soften the rules has drawn criticism from Grain Farmers, which is pursuing legal action to eliminate them.
“The amount of paperwork that we’re having to go through as a result of this loss (of use) of the neonicotinoids has been just unbelievable,” said North Gower grower, Dwight Foster. “In my case it’s going to be between two and three weeks of work because we lost this product.”
Foster said neonics was a commodity-specific issue rather than a general one. “I’m not saying that it was handled properly, but I know who is going to follow through with most of the work if I want to try to use this product in the future,” he said.
Alma farmer Henry van Ankum, former chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, urged “a stronger process between the OFA and the commodity groups for aligning on strategies, and a process to define what are issues that are commodity specific and what are issues that are more general in nature.” It’s clear, he said, “that leaving this to an informal process is not always very successful.”
There are lots of big issues on agriculture’s horizon, he added. “I don’t think the OFA has to take the lead on all of them, nor do commodity groups need to take the lead on all of them.”
An unidentified speaker, however, questioned how it would be determined what commodity takes the lead. “We farm in a system,” he said, “and in that system we deal with animals, which in this case is bees, we deal with crops, which is part of a different part of the system, and clarifying what commodities specifically is supposed to address one single issue I think can be very confusing.”
Applause broke out following another unidentified speaker’s objections to the way Grain Farmers has handled the neonic issue and praise for the federation’s decision to remain in negotiations with the province.
Leo Blydorp, who farms grains and oilseeds in Dufferin County, said he didn’t want an assumption made that organizations would always agree. “In other words, I think there can be debate, and it’s a good thing if we can come to a solidified position but on some issues at some point of the day there might be a difference, and I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing,” he said. “I think as much as possible our desire should be to work towards a common front with regulators in the case of the neonics.”
Kim Sytsma, a cow calf producer from Leeds County, noted that the federation has had a longstanding MOU with Beef Farmers of Ontario which has worked “fairly well.”
Friction over the federation’s handling of the neonic issue also surfaced earlier in the meeting during discussion of a Huron County Federation of Agriculture resolution to have all media and press releases approved by the provincial federation’s board. Currently, the OFA president approves them.
That motion was defeated. BF