Ontario's general farm groups all accredited for another three years

Friday, July 17, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s three general farm groups received word two weeks after their re-accreditation hearings in June they’ve all been accredited for another three years.

The Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal released its written decisions July 10 informing all three groups that based on the evidence they filed and the submissions they made at hearings in June, they all met the “prescribed criteria for reaccreditation” as farm organizations. The groups are now accredited until December 2018.  

Karen Eatwell, National Farmers Union-Ontario president and Region 3 coordinator, says this year’s hearing process went very smoothly. “The three panel members that were on the tribunal panel did a great job. They asked questions but they were legitimate.”

Eatwell says she sat through all three hearings and “it was a very smooth process.”

Last time the three groups applied for reaccreditation in 2012, the tribunal denied them accreditation. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario both eventually regained accreditation through the tribunal process. But the NFU-O had to challenge the tribunal’s decision refusing it reaccreditation in Ontario Superior Court through a judicial review. In 2013, the court released its decision stating the NFU-O should be reaccredited.

The tribunal’s July 10 written decision states NFU-O had 1,342 supporters in 2014 and 50 direct memberships.

Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario had 4,165 supporters in 2014. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture had 36,654 supporters in 2014.

Going into this year’s hearing, Eatwell says she wasn’t very worried about NFU-O’s submission and its chances of being reaccredited. “I felt like we met all the criteria. I felt very optimistic that when you look at the criteria in the (Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding) Act and when you look at what we submitted, we met all the criteria and that’s what they agreed upon.” BF