The Board of Directors of the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) elected their new president and vice president this week at BFO's 56th Annual General Meeting held in Toronto. Joe Hill will lead the association in the year ahead as president with Rob Lipsett as vice president. BFO Past President, Matt Bowman, has stepped down after completing the maximum three terms on the BFO Board of Directors.
Hill has served on the board for seven years as a feedlot director. He and his wife, Jennifer, and two children run a feedlot operation in Centre Wellington near the town of Fergus. They also manage 800 acres of owned and rented land in corn, soybeans and wheat.
"Having served as vice president for the past two years, I have been very involved in our organization's plans to engage with consumers to increase demand for Ontario beef, and our plans to expand our cow herd and support new entrants and beginning farmers," shares Hill. "As BFO President, I am eager to continue this work. I strongly believe we need to create stability in the marketplace for Ontario's beef farmers, and my fellow directors and I will be focusing our efforts to address this in the year ahead."
Rob Lipsett from Grey County will enter his fourth year on the board as background director and will move to the position of vice president. Lipsett and his family operate a 150 head cow-calf operation and background all of their own calves.
Joining the BFO Board in 2018 are Jason Leblond and Jordan Miller who will both serve three-year terms. Leblond resides in Powassan where he operates a grass-fed cow-calf operation with his wife and children. He will represent the northern region, and will replace Matt Bowman as northern director. Miller will serve as director at-large, and will replace Tim Fugard who completed two terms on the board. Miller and his extended family operate a large commercial cow-calf operation on Manitoulin Island.
Returning to the BFO Board is Jason Reid of Thunder Bay, who was re-elected by voting delegates to represent the cow-calf sector, and Jack Chaffe of Mitchell, who was acclaimed as feedlot director.
BFO Board of Directors and staff welcomed over 400 attendees at this year's AGM, including a number of Members of Provincial Parliament who attended the evening banquet. On Wednesday afternoon, BFO was pleased to receive Member of Parliament Mike Bossio, who delivered greetings on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. On Thursday morning, the Honourable Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs joined the AGM to address the delegates.
BFO's Board of Directors consists of 12 elected officials - three from the cow-calf sector, three from the feedlot sector, one from the backgrounder sector, one each representing the southern, northern and eastern regions of Ontario, and two elected at-large. Directors are elected for three-year terms on a rotating basis.
Source : Beef Farmers of Ontario