The Rural Voice, 1991-03, Page 12111
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8 THE RURAL VOICE
STABLE FUNDING FOR
FARM ORGANIZATIONS
Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has
contributed to The Rural Voice since
its inception in 1975.
Umbrella: Any comprehensive
protective organization, alliance,
strategy, or device.
The discussions about stable fund-
ing for farm organizations are muted
at present. Some farm organizations
expressed opposition because of the
exclusion of the 01-1,0 and NFU.
Others object to the compulsory aspect
of the proposal and suggest it may
even be unconstitutional. Whatever
the objection, there may be a solution.
The CFFO, at one point in previous
discussions about stable funding for
farm organizations, mentioned the
term "umbrella organization." Why
this wasn't elaborated upon I don't
know. But such an organization has
merit. You may not be aware where
this concept originated. It came from
the CFFO, a farm organization of
mainly immigrants from The Nether-
lands, where such an umbrella has
been operating since about 1950.
An umbrella can be formed with
representation of all three farm organi-
zations in the province, (note: the
NFU would have to form an Ontario
branch), and commodity organizations
such as marketing boards on the board
of directors, with input from process-
ors. For instance, livestock farmers
would have one voice through the
pork board, cattlemen's association,
and sheep council. Whether such
groups have one or more directors on
the board must then be decided.
Horticulture would be represented by
the vegetable board and other related
associations, while consumers and
processors must also be considered.
All funds collected as a registration
fees would go to the umbrella. The
participating organizations, who now
don't need independent research
departments and therefore need much
less money, continue to function as
they do now.
If we configure such a system for
Ontario we could get the following:
the board of directors would consist of
OFA, six members; CFFO and NFU,
two members each; meats, horticul-
ture, and corn and crops, one member
each; and possibly processor organiza-
tions. The number of members of ge-
neral farm organizations on the board
of directors could change according to
the number of farmers an organization
represents. This could be adjusted
every five years as memberships vary.
The executive would consist of: OFA,
CFFO, NFU, meats, crops, and horti-
culture, one member each.
Their committees must deal with:
soil and crops, water quality, taxes,
foreign trade, research, consumer
education, farmer education, building
development, animal welfare, erosion,
groundwater quality, GATT and
countervail, finance, commodity inter-
face, foreign relations, and supply ma-
nagement. This would be supported
by a permanent staff of professional
people, with a farm background where
desirable, divided into departments.
The OFA may oppose such a struc-
ture, as it would take away some of
their power as the main spokesperson
for Ontario agriculture, but the benefit
to farmers must come before the
benefit to the OFA. Such a system
would solve the dilemma of a
registration fee since the umbrella
would be a public entity, like a
marketing board or a municipality.
The fee could be determined by the
return value of the farmer's property.
This could be based on horticultural
value, cash crop value, grazing value,
building value, livestock value, etc.
The above should not be seen as a
final proposal, but more as a new
approach for discussion. The Dutch
system, on which this is loosely based,
is different as it is national in scope.
As such, it has regional representation.
The board meetings there are open to
the public, which is something we, in
Ontario, could well emulate.0