New Grain Farmers chair runs 1,500-acre crop farm in Essex

GUELPH — There’s new leadership at the helm of Grain Farmers of Ontario.
Longtime vice-chair and Essex County crop farmer Brendan Byrne took over as chair of the 28,000-member Grain Farmers of Ontario, the largest farm lobby group by sector. He took over from Eastern Ontario’s Markus Haerle, a St. Isidore-area crop and poultry farmer who served as chair for the last three years.

It comes just as the GFO released its 2021 strategic plan, a “blueprint for the next few years,” that’s been in the making for a few years already, Byrne said. Byrne operates a 1,500-acre cash crop farm with this father and family.
The plan lays out the organization’s five overall goals in the broadest sense. They are: advocacy and public trust; protecting and growing markets; farm sustainability; research and knowledge transfer; governance and operations. Farmers can find more info on the organization’s website.
Byrne said that in the immediate future, issues like the carbon tax are going to remain the focus, although the organization will stay flexible and respond to things as they come up.

The main priorities for GFO haven’t changed, he said, and while there’s always room for improvement, he didn’t come into the position with plans to rock the boat. He’s been involved at the local level for some time, and at the board level for the last six years, so he’s already had significant input into what the GFO is up to and why. A good communicator, Byrne sees in himself an opportunity to reach out and build bridges. “But I’m very open to learning in this position as well, so if there are areas to improve, (we make sure) we listen and do that.”