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PC Agriculture Critic Urges Min. McMeekin to Address Issues Relating to AgriStability

MPP Ernie Hardeman: There Is No Proper Appeal Process for AgriStability

By , Farms.com

Ontario PC Agriculture Critic Ernie Hardeman MPP (Oxford) wrote an open letter to Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin expressing his concerns that farmers don’t have a proper appeal process if they disagree with decisions related to AgriStability. The open letter urges the minister to respond to his concerns, which he had expressed a month prior to his second letter.

Hardeman explains that there have been a number of complaints that he has received from farmers who felt that Agricrop had made an error in calculating AgriStability for their farm. Through this process, the farmer appealed to the Ontario AgriStability Review Committee (OARC) – which sided with the farmer. However, despite this ruling, Agricorp has ignored the decision made by the committee and has since refused to make changes to their original decision.

Hardeman asks Min. McMeekin to publicly report the number of cases that Agricrop has ignored, commit to review Agricrop’s decisions made on these cases, and also outline the steps he will take to make sure that farmers have a real appeal process that’s fair.


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Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?