Ron Bonnett, a 58-year-old northern Ontario beef and grain producer, has been re-elected president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for a two-year term.He was unopposed.Bonnett became the 12th president in the CFA’s 75-year history last May when he stepped in to take over from Laurent Pellerin, who took a government appointment as chair of the Farm Products Council of Canada.He had been elected vice-president in 2009 after losing the election to Pellerin.Bonnet said a key objective of his term will be to raise the public profile of agriculture.He noted that major urban newspapers including Toronto’s Globe and Mail have started to pay more attention to agriculture and food issues.“I think that gives us an unprecedented platform to raise our profile in the public mind and that is one of my goals,” he said. “Part of the debate now is around higher food prices and I argue that higher food prices are a good thing because farmers have to be profitable. That is a message I want to convey.”Bonnett said he also plans to work with other farm groups who are not members but who share many of the same goals as the CFA, Canada’s largest and oldest farm lobby group.Delegates at the annual meeting in Ottawa this week passed a resolution calling for more government investment in agricultural research, a goal being promoted by many farm organizations.And he said he plans to work closely with cattle, pulse and canola sectors on common objectives. “We may not always agree but we can still talk about those goals we can agree on.”
CFA re-elects president
By
explore
Stories from our other publications
