Single phone call enables 5,000 farmers to chat with Duncan and Mitchell
Sunday, March 20, 2011
by BETTER FARMING STAFF
Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews says a telephone town hall meeting Tuesday between the organization’s members and provincial Treasurer Dwight Duncan and Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell was a success, even if the technology wasn’t up to the task.
About 5,000 members were on the conference call on Tuesday night. Between 20,000 and 25,000 members had been prompted the day before that the conference was taking place.
The first question posed to Duncan was about a risk management program, says Crews.
Last year the province extended a pilot project for grains and oilseeds, which are flying high with record prices. Beef and pork producers submitted their proposals for plans that would back stop those battered industries.
The treasurer “didn’t say yes or no that (a business risk management program) would be in the budget. He did say that he totally understood the need and the rationale,” Crews says.
She adds “It was probably the best answer he could give…. being that budget documents are confidential.” The provincial budget release is scheduled for Mar. 29.
Crews says Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell referred to the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition as “more productive” to deal with “all of the commodities sitting in the room supporting each other and not have to worry about one upsetting the other.”
Crews reiterates that it is still imperative to have federal support for agricultural business risk management programs. “I am not prepared to let the feds off the hook and neither is the province.”
Other questions dealt with the topics of green energy, getting young people into farming, and the high cost of labour as a local input cost.
She says Duncan was amenable to the OFA’s suggestion that farmers be able to get their farm business registration number early in order to be able take advantage of government programs.
Farmers also got the point across that they would rather get returns from the marketplace than a cheque from the government. “That doesn’t get into the news enough,” she says.
Crews says some Federation members surveyed were disappointed that they weren’t able to fully take part in the telephone town hall meeting, which was paid for by the provincial government.
On Monday March 14, between 20,000 and 25,000 members got a “heads up” automated phone call that the conference was taking place, Crews says. A survey of members in her area revealed that “some people sat at the kitchen table and didn’t get a call,” she says. Others got on the phone line and “had their calls dropped.” Other people didn’t get on the line until after the introductory session was over.
Both Ontario Pork and the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association have used similar technology to contact producers via telephone numbers listed in their databases. But the numbers involved were considerably less ambitious. Last fall Ontario Pork attempted to call 1,500 producers and got 600 on the call.
Crews says the technology has a lot of potential. “It will be awesome when it is perfected.” BF