As a farmer, what’s your number one issue?
Travelling throughout Ontario, talking to farmers provides people like me, the President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, with an abundance of thoughts on what agriculture’s top 10 issues should be.
Farm income is a sure bet to be at the top of such a list – regardless of what area of the province you are in or what commodity you produce. A farm is a business and what else is more important than the ability to earn a profit to sustain that business?
Most of the issues the OFA tackles for its members relate to the ability to earn a profit. However, they start out looking a lot different in many cases. The OFA deals with issues such as predator controls, property taxes, environmental stewardship, clean water, etc. At the base of these issues, however, is the bottom line on individual farms and what OFA can do to protect or enhance the farm family’s income.
Identifying the issues is just the first part of serving member needs. Once we know the issues, we have to work with commodity and other partners to develop possible solutions.
This is when the real difficult work begins for OFA – getting the proposed solutions to the right people within governments, both elected and appointed, because that’s where proposals are turned into solutions.
While increased financial returns is an obvious answer to farm income issues, OFA has also placed a major emphasis on retaining the income farmers receive. We have done this through improved tax legislation: savings of more than five million dollars on Land Transfer taxes for starting farmers; property tax savings of about 368 million dollars for farmers in general; savings of about six million dollars for Outlet Drains.
Through efforts of OFA and its national partner, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Ontario farmers have benefited from about 585 million dollars received from safety net programs. Farmers in Ontario have also received more than seven million dollars from the Environmental Farm Plan program.
OFA continues to play a lead role as it works with Ontario commodity organizations to bring workable Business Risk Management Programs to fruition for farmers in the beef, pork and horticultural sectors. When this work eventually pays dividends, it will make farming in those sectors more predictable and enjoyable for the farm families involved.
As modern agriculture becomes increasingly knowledge based, the OFA is proud of its staff of researchers and member service representatives (MSRs). These people are available to work with OFA members on issues impacting farm families.
Another key element in the chain of problem solvers and issues confronting farmers is the local federations of agriculture. In most instances, this is where identification of issues and development of solutions begin. When an issue comes up on the farm, the OFA’s MSR and the local federation step up and go to work on possible solutions.
It’s the local federation, in the majority of cases, that initiates a resolution to the OFA’s Board of Directors. When all the necessary fine tuning is done and the resolution passed, the OFA then goes to work getting details in the hands of government – staff and elected levels.
It’s also the local federations the OFA turns to for engagement of the local membership when a mass lobby at Queen’s Park or Parliament Hill is needed to government to act.
Identifying issues facing Ontario farmers is something OFA does almost daily. Planning a course of action has become second nature for OFA. We’re always ready to serve Ontario farmers.
By Bette Jean Crews, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture