Every year, farmers with an annual gross income of $7,000 apply for their farm business registration number and are legally obligated to pay $225 plus tax and become a member of a provincial lobby organization.
But which one to choose? There are three accredited groups: The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the National Farmers Union of Ontario. Farmers who don’t approve of any of three choices can obtain a full refund by writing to the farm group during the registration process. This year’s deadline is May 30.
The Ontario Landowners Association is not an accredited farm lobby group but does fight for many farming and rural issues.
Here is a closer look at the four provincial organizations:
National Farmers Union of Ontario
President: Western Ontario cash crop farmer Emery Huszka
Key issues for 2018:
• Climate change, water quality and soil health. Ensuring farmers take ownership for the stewardship of their land but also looking at the broader picture. Farmers have a big impact on soil health and water quality. Also recognizing that farmers are not the only players in the system and must examine how to work with others in these systems so everyone does his part.
• Farmers’ access to farm land. The ability for farmers to buy, purchase and even have access to buying farmland.
Number of members: 1,600
Profile: Members are family farms. Group is pro-organic and opposes GM food and neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds.
Head office: Guelph
www.nfuontario.ca
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
President: Simcoe cash crop farmer Keith Currie
Key issues for 2018:
• Making sure rural Ontario voices are heard during the provincial election and getting long-term investment back into rural Ontario. In order for farms to be healthy, for members to have good prosperity in their business, rural Ontario needs to be healthy. The services that farmers require are getting farther and farther away. We can help keep our schools open. We can maintain beds in hospitals and medical centres, and maybe we can have retirement homes that are not three hours away.
• Dealing with the increase in minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2018.
• Environmental issues, such as working to reduce phosphorus levels in Lake Erie watershed.
Number of members: 37,000
Profile: Farm businesses spanning all commodities, includes 85 per cent of Ontario farm families, from small farms grossing $7,000 to multi-million dollar operations.
Head office: Guelph
www.ofa.on.ca
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario
President: Chatham-Kent crop farmer and broiler-breeder operator Clarence Nywening
Key issues:
• Water quantity. It’s not just about preserving the quality, it’s about how much water we have, how much we should be using and how much we should put on our crops.
• Long-term preservation and improvement of the quality of farmland soil. Biodiversity on farms improves soil, ensures greater economic resilience of farms, and benefits wild species as well. Caring for soil and preventing erosion helps to keep nutrients and soil on the farm, and reduces loss into waterways.
• The best food growing land should be used to grow food. Land not particularly well suited to either of these purposes should be a place for houses and condos. Without government intervention, more farmland will be converted to low-density housing.
Number of members: 4,000
Profile: Rooted in Dutch immigration following the Second World War; includes a variety of commodities.
Head office: Guelph
www.christianfarmers.org
Ontario Landowners Association
President: Stittsville beef and crop farmer Tom Black
Key issues:
• Government. There’s a misconception the OLA doesn’t like government. The OLA wants government, including enforcers and inspectors, to obey the rules that the government sets for everybody else.
• Lobbying politicians to stop the carbon tax. It has no relevance to fixing the world. It’s just a straight tax appeasing environmentalists.
• The OLA endorses the Trillium Party but does not suggest its membership endorses the Trillium Party too. The OLA doesn’t believe there is any difference in the three main Ontario parties. They all vote party line — MPPs have no freedom to vote on behalf of their constituents.
Number of members: About 5,000 households
Profile: Members are mainly rural or small town private property owners and their families, and are fierce defenders of property rights.
Head office: Tom Black’s Stittsville farm
www.ontariolandowners.ca
