Ontario has become the first province to recognize the National Farmers
Union as a farm group eligible for a provincially sanctioned dues
checkoff.
Ontario NFU co-ordinator Peter Dowling of Gananoque, Ont., said the
late-September decision by an agriculture department tribunal to grant
the NFU “accreditation” will be a significant boost for the
organization.
“It should expand our mandate and our financial base,” Dowling said in
an Oct. 6 interview.
“More Ontario farmers who support our approach will be able to support
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
us with dollars.”
Each January, Ontario farmers are offered a choice about which farm
group they want their mandatory check-off fees to support.
Until 2003, the choice has been the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
or the Christian Farmers’ Federation.
Effective next year, the NFU will be one of the options.
“Our name will appear in every farm kitchen next January as one of
three options to support,” said Dowling.
“A number of farmers have been looking for an alternative to the
mainstream farm voices and I think we will provide that.”
He said the NFU could claim to speak for 319 farm families when it
applied for Ontario accreditation. It was more than they needed and
with provincial recognition, the number can only grow, said Dowling.
“This is an important breakthrough for us. We will be better financed
and better able to represent the farmers who support our goals.”
