By Franchesca Weeks - November 28, 2014
The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario turns 60 this year, and we want to invite our members, supporters, and friends of the organization to join us. This year's convention will be held on Tuesday, December 2nd at St. George's Hall in Waterloo, just minutes away from St. Jacob's Country Market. This year's convention will be a combination of presentations about both serious policy issues and the celebration of the past, present and future of the Christian Farmers Federation. This week's commentary focuses on some the business and presentations that will be made at the convention.
Listen here:
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/NOV-28-CFFO1.mp3"][/audio]
This year's convention features an election race at the Vice-President level with Clarence Nywening, Ted Van Den Hurk and Ed Scharringa all throwing their hats into the ring for these important positions. Nominations for the position of Director remain open until the day of the convention, but there is the expectation that there will be some competition this year, and perhaps the introduction of a new member of the CFFO Executive Board.
The CFFO commissioned Jim Wheeler to examine the issue of social license to operate. The paper takes a realistic looks at the benefits that farmers enjoy in Ontario from business support programming to tax breaks to the regulatory regime that governs agriculture. Wheeler balances these benefits against the responsibilities that farmers have to meet social and environmental expectations. Finally, Jim looks at some of the new and emerging issues that farmers will be called to tackle in the future, and explores how farmers will be incented or forced to deal with them.
The CFFO will also spend some time talking about its other long-term policy priorities that emerged in 2014 and will continue to be a key focus heading into 2015. We will explain why we have chosen to focus our efforts on water policy and how we are trying to initiate change. We will explain why our best farmland is a priority for our membership. Finally, we will explain why we are focused on job creation in a province that needs to get back on its feet.
The CFFO is celebrating 60 years of working on behalf of farmers in this great province. We want to encourage you to come out and spend your day with us on December second at St. George's Hall in Waterloo. Franchesca Weeks is the Communications Manager of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy. The CFFO Commentary is heard weekly on CFCO Chatham, CKNX Wingham, and UCB Canada radio stations in Chatham, Belleville, Bancroft, Brockville and Kingston. It is also archived on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org. CFFO is supported by 4,000 family farmers across Ontario.
