The Rural Voice, 1978-03, Page 4Big clout
for a
little guy
Although the Christian Farmers Federation has only 500
members, its voice is heard loud and clear.
Many of the problems in farming today are attributed to the
fact that farmers just don't have.much political clout anymore.
After all, leaders say, when farmers make up only five per cent of
the country's population, the chance of having their voices heard
is a small one.
With that reasoning, the chance of the Christian Farmers
Federation to be heard should be infinitesimal. After all, how can
an organization with only 500 members across the province wield
any kind of political clout?
Yet the C.F.F. has influence far beyond what could be
expected of a group so small. When the voice of larger farm
organizations like the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the
Ontario region of the National Farmers Union speak out on
issues, the voice of the CFF is seldom far behind.
Much of the credit for the disproportionate influence of the
CFF is given by outside observers to Elbert Van Donkersgoed
the Executive Director of the organization. From his office in the
village of Drayton, tucked away in a small house crammed with
offices, the press releases and well -formulated briefs to various
government agencies issue forth. He's a quiet sort of man,
hardly the kind of person you'd expect as the man carrying the
profile for a group that has been known to raise a few feathers.
He looks like a school teacher, which he was before he took the
job with the CFF. He tells the story of the federation to date.
The group started in 1954 in Canada when a few local groups
called Christian Farmers Associations were formed by Dutch
immigrants to Ontario. These people had come to Canada and
often worked on farms. The associations brought them together
and helped them adjust to the problems of being strangers in a
new land. They helped each other through the hard times. These
associations grew out of the trend in the Netherlands to organize
on the basis of confession. For instance, Mr. Van Donkersgoed
says, in the Netherlands there are three farm organizations: one
group which says there is no religion, one that is Roman Catholic
and one that is Protestant, yet the three work strongly together
and have a unifying organization.
So the concept came to Canada as the Christian Farmers
PG. 4. THE RURAL VOICE/MARCH 1978.
Associations and in 1954 the boards of four of these local erouns
got together in Strathroy and decided to associate. The CFF v.aY
formed.
In the years following the organization had its ups and downs
and sometimes nearly disbanded. There were times when it was
an organization in name only.
In 1966-67, however, new lifeblood was pumped in. New local
associations were formed and the number of locals grew from
four to eight. There were younger members and new blood. A
real effort was made to hire some staff in the latter part of the
1960's and a part-time fieldman Hilbert Van Ankum was hired
(he now farms at R.R.2. Wroxeter). When Mr. Van Ankum
decided he wanted to farm full time. the organization went back
to being little more than a name.
-But an new influx of new faces in 1970 revitalized the group.
The federation made a committment to hire a full-time staffer
even if it meant it had to spend more than its budget in order to
pay the salary. One of those who applied for the job was a
Drayton Christian school teacher who'd grown up on a Huron
county farm in Howick township. Elbert Van Donkersgoed was
successful in getting the job and the federation has been
increasingly successful ever since.
The concept of the organization, Mr. Van Donkersgoed says,
has not remained static. For one thing the makeup of the
' organization has changed. When fie started working for the
federation it had a little over 100 members. The average age of
members was pushing 50 years of age. Today the membership
has grown to over 500 and the average age has dropped to close
to 40. There has been a tremendous influx of farmers of the
younger generation, he says.
With that influx one of the two basic concepts of the federation
has vanished: the need of immigrants to work together. But the
other basic concept, organization on the basis of shared beliefs
continues. The Christian beliefs at the basis of the organization,
Mr. Van Donkersgoed believes, gives the CFF a stronger base
than some organizations. Organizing just to seek monetary
gain or to fight a short term problem is in the long run, a very