TORONTO – Ron Bonnett, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, was certain the scheduled late-summer meeting of provincial farm leaders pursuing common goals and a “one voice” approach to lobbying would be tense and acrimonious.
It was.
Corn farmers had recently applied for duties against imported subsidized American corn, arguing it depressed Canadian corn sales.
Sectors dependent on corn as a feedstock, including the cattle industry, cried foul and complained that the corn industry’s action would cost them money and end any pretense of inter-commodity co-operation.
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“Despite the earlier wishes this year of a united voice for Ontario’s agricultural sector, that pipe dream has all but vanished,” the Ontario Cattle Feeders Association said in an angry Sept. 2 statement.
Pork, poultry and ethanol interests were equally outraged.
“There is a lot of frustration in the sector about the corn countervail and some sectors will be hurt,” Bonnett says. “But the reality is that governments have not responded to the grain industry hurt. There was divide at that meeting but there also was some understanding.”
He acknowledges that public statements caused the “one voice” allies to appear divided.
“But it would have been much worse, I can guarantee, if we had not been meeting,” he says. “There was some blood on the floor but most of it stayed in that room.”
In fact, by late October the once-warring groups were together again, lobbying rural members of the Ontario legislature on safety net issues.
“I know our trade action churned things up with the cattle guys, but when we talked, I think they understood better that the issue was a lack of government support that gave us few options,” Ontario Corn Producers’ president Doug Eadie says. “There is an advantage to us sticking together.”
The Ontario one voice movement has been around for a year, the product of serious problems in the provincial farm economy, envious glances east to the powerful Quebec farm lobby and a decision by provincial farm leaders that on some issues, farm groups could set aside their differences.
Groups ranging from the OFA and Ontario Corn Producers to the Ontario National Farmers Union and Christian Farmers of Ontario have co-operated in pressing the provincial government to provide more farm supports, double the provincial agriculture department budget and make environmental regulations more farmer-friendly.
They were granted an unusual session with the premier, received part of their demand for special funding last spring and have seen the government commit to paying more attention to the sector.
“The one voice effort has made it abundantly clear to the politicians that they (farmers) will not be bought off with trinkets and beads,” the OFA said earlier this year.
While other farm leaders in the province credit the one voice campaign with some obvious successes, they also caution there are limitations.
“We’ve had some results and the one voice idea has a place,” says Ontario Cattlemen’s Association president Ian McKillop. “On a higher level, there are issues we can work together on. Obviously, on something like the corn tariff, there are different interests and different perspectives.”
He says the OFA was inspired by the success of Quebec’s farm lobby. “I doubt we’ll see anything like that.”
The NFU’s Ontario branch has been part of the one voice campaign but provincial director Don Mills is restrained in his praise.
“We have been part of the one voice movement to an extent but it is on short-term solutions,” he says. “We still have deep divisions over the root causes of the farm crisis and how to address it.”
Bonnett vows that the single voice initiative will continue and Ontario agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky said she supports the attempt at farmer unity.
“I think it is a very good strategy from a political perspective,” she says. “It is a very good way to present issues to politicians. I also think it is a very good way to present their position to the general public. There is strength in numbers and a farmer is a farmer is a farmer.”
