Grain Farmers of Ontario today announced it has commenced legal proceedings against the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. “Late last week, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) filed a request to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to provide an interpretation of the neonicotinoid treated seed regulations,” says Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers… Read More
Tag: Grain Farmers of Ontario
The Grain Farmers of Ontario have sought legal advice on behalf of its members and have words of caution for farmers: do not allow beekeepers on your land without a waiver of liability. GFO has contacted members with guidance following concerns that surround possible liability issues with hosting beekeepers’ livestock on their land, the group… Read More
Farmers from across southern Ontario rallied at two MPP offices today, May 29, to demonstrate their frustration over the Ontario government’s handling of impending regulations regarding the use of neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seed. Grain Farmers of Ontario put the call out earlier this week for farmers to show up between 10 am and… Read More
New appointments to the province’s Ontario Pesticide Advisory Committee (OPAC) have got at least one farm group calling foul — yet again — on Ontario’s government. The committee’s purpose is to “annually reviews the content and operation of the Pesticides Act and its regulations and recommends changes or amendments” to the minister of environment and… Read More
The Grain Farmers of Ontario are speaking up about concerns they have regarding the reach of Ontario’s ministry of environment. It’s no secret that GFO disagrees with the province’s proposed regulations regarding the use of neonicotinoid corn and soybean seed treatments — regulations the producer group says equate to a de facto ban on the… Read More
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops (CRSC) took a “giant leap forward” today with an announced $1.077 million for the CRSC’s work to establish metrics on sustainable crop production. Gerry Ritz, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, was on hand at the Canadian Global Crops Symposium in Saskatoon today to make the funding announcement. “Consumers… Read More
Kurtis Peeters, an organic corn grower from Kawartha Lakes has been named as the winner of the “Most Profitable Acre Challenge,” a competition put on by the Agri-food Management Institute and presented in partnership with Grain Farmers of Ontario. The business skills competition looks at input costs, production practices, yield, marketing tactics, and business management… Read More
It would seem the more work and effort Ontario farmers put in to reducing neonicotinoid use and improving bee health, the less the provincial government and farmers’ own ministry wants to do with them. The Grain Farmers of Ontario recently released its pollinator health blueprint. It’s a practical, well thought-out and realistic plan, with set… Read More
A proposal for a one-million-acre set-aside for pollinators in Ontario by 2018 sounds like something a government or activists would propose, and farmers would lose their minds over. What? A million acres in a province losing 350 acres of prime farmland a day to development? But now, this set-aside program, the gemstone in the new… Read More
Jeff Leal, Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, will meet with the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) on March 26th, 2015. The minister’s office says this is to meet with new GFO chair Mark Brock. This meeting follows shortly after the release of the producer group’s Pollinator Health Blueprint. The GFO’s blueprint is… Read More
Mark Brock has taken on the position of Chair of the Board for Grain Farmers of Ontario, effective February 10th, 2015. Brock takes over from Henry Van Ankum, who finished the maximum term of three years in the role of chairman. A cash cropper and sheep farmer from Perth County (District 9), Brock has held… Read More
Barley and oat farmers in Ontario have voted in favour of being represented by Grain Farmers of Ontario. “We are pleased to announce that barley and oat production in Ontario is anticipated to be represented by Grain Farmers of Ontario by July 1, 2015,” says Barry Senft, CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario. The Ontario… Read More
A few weeks ago, the Grain Farmers of Ontario encouraged farmers to boycott the Ontario government’s public consultation process concerning new regulations governing access and use of neonicotinoid seed treatments on corn and soybean seed. At the time, GFO stated that there was little to be gained at the public meeting, and that GFO and… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario met December 18, 2014, with government representatives to ask the provincial government to abandon the proposed seed treatment regulations and, instead, “support an approach that will work for the complexities of both grain farming and bee keeping.” “Family farmers need your commitment to agriculture now,” says GFO of the provincial government,… Read More
The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) have publicly asked its members not to attend next week’s government-hosted public consultation meetings. The meetings are slated for Tuesday in London, Ont., and Thursday in Toronto, to discuss the impending increased regulations required for access to neonicotinoid seed treatments. Barry Senft, CEO of GFO, says his organization feels there’s… Read More