New grain organization lands Jan. 1

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers will begin the New Year with a new marketing organization. The provincial government today announced Grain Farmers of Ontario replaces the province’s the three commodities’ marketing organizations on Jan. 1, 2010.

Grain Farmers launched its branding in September but has had to wait for provincial regulations to formalize its marketing powers. Those were filed on Wednesday.

“It turned into a much larger project than anyone could have anticipated at the front end,” says Geri Kamenz, chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission while discussing the time lag between the brand launch and the introduction of the regulations to enable the organization.

The new organization “delivers on what we call a stakeholder solution,” he says, explaining that the merger was driven by the industry. Growers voted to merge the Ontario Corn Producers’ Association, Ontario Soybean Growers and the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board in 2008. “They identified where they wanted to go and as a Commission with the regulatory responsibility we laid the course before them.”

Farm Products will announce an interim board of directors at the beginning of January. The interim board will oversee the fledgling organization’s operations until producers can elect board representatives at regional meetings beginning in January.

Kamenz, says the merger is new for Ontario: “If people pay close attention to the performance of this new organization and they see value in the collective rather than the independence, I think it will set the tone and set the platform for . . . discussions and amalgamations in other commodities.”

Barry Senft, the Grain Farmers’ CEO, says the first priority will be “getting our business in order.”

He explains the three former organizations cease to exist Dec. 31; all of their responsibilities must be transferred to the new organization so it is ready for operation the next day. Ongoing issues will have to be juggled too. “It’s not like we’re starting new. There’s marketing issues, there’s market development issues, there’s research” that have to be carried through the transition, he says.

The August date of the new organization’s annual meeting may be one change for some producers. A delegates meeting takes place in March. BF