The Rural Voice, 2006-12, Page 64GREY
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: www.ofa.on.ca/grey 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
• The Rural Voice is provided to OFA
Members in Grey County by the GCFA
Building an on-farm food safety
The agri-food industry and the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)
recognize the need for comprehensive
on-farm food safety programs and
full traceability systems. Based on
discussions with the agri-food
industry, a consultative process to
develop an on-farm food safety
strategy for Ontario was held in 2004.
The objective was to build a system
in Ontario that was consistent with
national and international
frameworks, would build on existing
initiatives, meet the needs of the agri-
food supply chain and be effective
and affordable for all those involved.
The recommendations coming out
of this consultative process
envisioned an on-farm food safety
system that would reduce duplication,
reduce costs and simplify the
requirements for Ontario multi -
commodity producers. There was
strong messaging coming for the
agri-food industry asserting that the
current system, which encompasses
over 20 different commodity -specific
on-farm food safety programs, was
complicated and inefficient.
Identifying this need for co-
ordination, OMAFRA, working
under the guidance of a government -
industry steering committee, assessed
nationally and provincially developed
livestock and crop on-farm food
safety programs and identified
common good production practices
and record keeping elements.
As a result, a producer -friendly
resource — Good Production Practices
(GPP) Advantage — was created
containing these identified common
elements. This whole -farm approach
to producing safe food improves
efficiencies and GPP Advantage an
effective tool for multi -commodity
producers.
GPP Advantage can be used as a
stepping stone to the national on-farm
Congratulations to award winner
We would like to extend our
congratulations to Wayne Caughill
from the Dundalk area who was the
recipient of Gertie Blake's OFA
Volunteer Of The Year Award at our
annual meeting held on October 13 in
Markdale.
Wayne is president of the Proton
Federation of Agriculture and is also
the Grey -Bruce Pork Producers
representative to the GCFA Board.
He has raised and brought a
number of important issues such as
fuel taxes and commodity prices to
our attention at board meetings.
He worked with a small group of
local beef producers during the BSE
crisis to raise public awareness and
promote more farmer -to -consumer
sales.
In co-operation with directors of
the Egremont Federation of
Agriculture he has helped in
promoting information meetings for
farmers. He is responsible for having
the GCFA display with information
and handouts at the Dundalk Fair. He
60 THE RURAL VOICE
also helps with the public speaking
competition at the local school.
Wayne participated at several
rallies in support of farmers and
travelled to Ottawa on April 5 to join
thousands of fellow farmers on
Parliament Hill. He also visited Steve
Webster who was demonstrating at
Queen's Park for several weeks to
bring the plight of farmers to the
attention of the public and
consumers.
Wayne also participates in
education programs such as Grown In
Grey and trade shows like the
Chesley Agri-Fair.0
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS' MEETING
Thursday, December 14, 2006
8:00 p.m.
Grey County Agricultural services Centre
meeting room (Grey Gables)
206 Toronto Street South, Morkdde
Members are welcome to attend
system
food safety programs. The GPP
Advantage system offers advice and
resources to help producers increase
their adoption of safe food production
practices for their operation
regardless of what commodity is
produced. This format is closely
aligned with the successful, Ontario
developed, HACCP Advantage
program which was developed for the
processing sector.°
— Submitted by Paul Wettlaufer,
OFA Regional Director Grey South
from the Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
to the farm families in
Grey County
Grey County Federation of
Agriculture
Public Speaking
Competition
The Board of Directors are
pleased to announce that the
GCFA Public Speaking
Competition will once again be held
in 2007.
The Semi -Finals will be held on
February 20, 2007 and the Finals
will be held on February 27. The
schools and teachers will be
notified of the dates and locations
for both the Semi -Finals and
Finals.
We would like to thank Anne
Marie Watson from the Durham
area for accepting the position of
co-ordinator.°