Newly elected National Farmers Union president Terry Boehm vowed last weekend to continue the 40-year tradition of leading the organization against corporate trends in agriculture that undermine farmers.
“The NFU has always had a mandate of putting the social and economic interests of the family farm first,” he said in an Nov. 27 interview after winning election to become the ninth NFU president since 1969.
He said it means analyzing the reasons behind problems in the hog and beef sectors, the implications of changes to the seed registration process and the dangers of World Trade Organization agreements that make the trading world a safer place for business interests while reducing the power of governments and citizens.
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“Our priorities are what they have always been and we need to fight to turn around this train that is pushing farmers off the land,” he said.
“We’re witnessing the full extent of what we imagined 40 years ago and now we really have to recognize that we can only see one result from the policies that are now being enacted and that is further difficulties for Canadian family farmers.”
In a speech at the NFU convention, Boehm said he is under no illusions that his message will always be well received by those in power. He has been involved for many years, including the past several years as vice-president.
“Our message is not always treated with respect or even listened to,” he said. “That’s OK.”
Boehm won by defeating relative newcomer Jean-Eudes Chiasson of New Brunswick 71-29.
It was part of a wholesale change of leadership at the NFU during the convention.
Dave Lewington, a 32-year-old from Lavigne in northern Ontario, won a tightly contested election for vice-president, defeating former women’s president Colleen Ross 48-45.
Chiasson, who ran a distant third in the vice-president election, gave a fiery speech calling for the NFU to broaden its base outside Western Canada and into the Maritimes and francophone communities. It should not be the NFU of the Canadian Wheat Board and the NFU of western issues, he said.
Joan Brady of Dashwood, Ont., is the new women’s president.
Kalissa Regier of Laird, Sask. is the new youth president.
Boehm will have to juggle his new farm politician duties with operating his 3,360-acre farm near Allan, Sask., and spending several months each year in France where his partner and six-year-old daughter live.
He said he does not think plans to continue spending time out of the country each year with his family will be a problem for the NFU or his ability to do the job.
“The farmers union is not just the president,” he said in the interview. “It is much more than that and we have very capable people across the country. It is not a one-person organization.”
He said instant communications will help.
“Access to the internet will allow me to carry out my job, although perhaps not quite as well as if I was here all the time.”
