New organization hungry for farm field inspection power

Thursday, September 17, 2009

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The head of a regional wheat committee challenges Grain Farmers of Ontario’s request for powers to inspect crops in farmers’ fields and says others in his district do too.

Bruce Pearse, Sunderland, chairman of District 8 of the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board, says producers are upset by the contents of the minutes of a telephone conference meeting Aug. 28 of Grain Farmers of Ontario Oversight Committee. The oversight committee is composed of chairs and vice-chairs of the three boards and associations and their consultants and legal counsel, as well as appointees and staff of the Farm Products Marketing Commission, which oversees regulated farm commodities. The committee monitors the amalgamation of the soybean, wheat and corn producer organizations, expected to take place this fall.

A copy of the minutes, obtained by Better Farming, says the transition team wants the word ‘lands’ included under a section of the marketing plan: “The (transition) team expressed frustration over this issue and stated they have already proven that it is necessary to have this included in the regulations. They also stated that we are dealing with a more sophisticated marketplace and that consumers want assurance.”

The wheat and soybean boards have had authority to inspect farms for a long time but it appears the authority has never been used, says committee member and Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board chair Dave Whaley. He says the new organization wants to keep all of the powers of the old organizations. Whaley says because those powers already existed, there was no attempt to be secretive about seeking them.

Pearse says farmers in his area feel too many people already have access to their land. He says farmers aren’t bothered about signing off on inspection of grain bins when they take out loans with the Agricultural Commodity Corporation, but they don’t want to see inspections of fields written in law.

There are concerns that regulations may be part of an attempt to prevent farmers from planting a crop using farm cleaned seed. “Seed companies have been trying to get rid of brown bag seed for a long time,” Pearse says.

Whaley says there are no plans to use these inspection powers. “We are just trying to hang on to what we’ve got,” he says. Farmers “probably never realized the authority was there because it had never been used.”

Pearse says one sore point is that farmers wouldn’t find out that these powers had been granted until “it was a fait accompli.” It’s not the only issue.

“The bigger, bigger question is; if you want to do all this traceability, when does it pay us?”

The Grain Farmers of Ontario, an amalgamation of organizations representing corn, soybean and wheat farmers, will come into existence at the pleasure of Ontario Agriculture Food and Rural Affair Minister Leona Dombrowsky some time this fall. According to the minutes, a final draft of the marketing plan is being crafted by the ministry’s legal branch.  BF