SPRING BAY—On Wednesday, January 17, the joint Annual General Meeting of the Manitoulin Cattlemen’s Association and the Manitoulin Soil and Crop Improvement Association took place at the community hall in Spring Bay. Though the day was less than ideal travel-wise, the number of attendees was impressive.
The meeting got underway at 11 am with the usual business of a call to order by John McNaughton, chairman of the board. It was noted the board had made the decision to divide the finances of both the Cattlemen’s and the Soil and Crop Associations to give a better picture of the financial shape of each of the organizations. A motion to accept this change was made and seconded.
The bulk of the meeting consisted of reports by the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA). Robert McKinlay, producer relations specialist and Jordan Miller, Northern director, gave a BFO presentation that was full of the business, activities and programs the BFO is involved in. They talked of grants available to farmers; they spoke of the BFO’s work to be a presence at various events; they held an online fundraiser for orange shirt day, in which they sent the proceeds from their campaign to Water First – an organization that provides clean drinking water to Indigenous communities in Ontario; they’ve connected with many affiliate organizations that support and promote Ontario beef.
Before lunch, John McNaughton advised the group to be thinking about resolutions they would like to present at the BFO AGM in February.
Julie Poirier-Mensinga gave an OMAFRA update, with an overview of agriculture on the Island between 2016 and 2021. There has been some growth on a farm cash receipt basis, $17 million to $20 million. When it comes to calf and cattle production, there’s been an increase from $10 million to $11 million. Hay and clover have increased from $0.4 million to $1.9 million. Possibly reflecting farmers retiring land being sold and used for haying. Cash receipts $2 million for other crops, and dairy product generated $1.3 million in 2021; potatoes generated $800,000. “A broad picture, but clearly calf and cattle production is very significant on the Island,” she said.
Farmers who wish to be updated on OMAFRA activities on a weekly basis can get on Ms. Poirier-Mensinga’s email list: julie.poiriermensinga@ontario.ca
Both Ms. Poirier-Mensinga and the BFO representatives addressed the lack of veterinarians in Ontario. A few places in the province are now searching desperately to bring back the large animal vet and so much work is being done through Guelph and the Ontario Vet College to encourage more veterinarian students to go into large animal and specifically bovine practices. The government is also putting initiatives in place to encourage veterinarians to practice in rural areas.
Birgit Martin followed up with an OSCIA report, beginning with a mention about the Northern Ag Conference which takes place on February 12 and 13. She added that the conference is trying to encourage farm producers to come, so they’re offering a 25 percent discount for primary producers. On the website, there’s access to this discount; a code called ‘producer 24’ so, when registering for the conference, use the code and get the discount.
Ms. Martin is the director on the provincial board for the Ontario Soil and Crop Association representing Northeastern Ontario, from Muskoka, north to Temiskaming and Cochrane and west to include Algoma. She’s the go-between with the board and the regional and local associations, as well assigned to be on various committees, she sits on the agricultural wildlife conflict working group which is chaired by OMAFRA and many organizations have representatives on it, including government organizations. The goal being to get some sort of compensation program for crops because production insurance is not meant to cover wildlife damage.
Further information provided by Ms. Martin, including the February AGM for the OSCIA in Elora, can be found on their website: www.ontariosoilcrop.org.
Following the presentations, a number of elections took place. Nominations were given and those nominated agreed to stand: delegate and alternate for OSCIA: Lyle Renecker and Bill Riach; BFO AC and Alternate: Nick Martin and Cameron Runnalls, BFO voting delegates: Brent Best and Alex Martin.
For the Manitoulin Cattlemen’s Association and Manitoulin Soil and Crop Improvement Association board of directors (12). Though it was suggested by Jordan Miller that everyone in the room be nominated, there were only 12 nominations made and all agreed to stand: Bruce Orford, Jim Martin, Mike Spry, Lyle Renecker, Brent Best, Cameron Runnalls, Jeff Geerdink, Rob Winkles, Nick Martin, Rod Davidson, John McNaughton and Jordan Miller.
Resolutions were next on the agenda and the main concern of the members in attendance was whether youth members on the board had voting privileges. The answer was no, because that would require constitutional changes and it would have to be passed by the membership. So, a resolution was made, “If they’re able to vote for the next prime minister, they should be able to vote on capitol issues.”
Jim Martin proposed the resolution to make the youth member of the board of BFO and voting member. This was seconded and carried.
Another resolution, which came from Algoma, with the hope that Manitoulin would support it, concerned the subsidy their veterinarian received when he first took his position in Algoma. His mileage expenses were subsidized and that made up 20 percent of his income, now with expenses increasing and the subsidy remaining unchanged, it makes up three percent. The exact wording was not available at the time, but all were in agreement to support and cosign the Algoma resolution. Jordan Miller put forward the support for Algoma’s resolution and it was seconded and carried.
Birgit Martin had a similar request for support from Sudbury with regards to compensation for damage to crops. This resolution was for the OSCIA and it read: “Whereas crop losses from wildlife damage are substantial, and whereas the losses are not adequately addressed through Agricorp’s production insurance and whereas other provinces, notably Manitoba and Saskatchewan, have compensation programs for crop loss from wildlife, whereas Ontario has a compensation program for livestock losses caused by wildlife, therefore be it resolved that OSCIA support OMAFRA with ideas and information statistics in the creation of a compensation program for damage to crops by wildlife.” This too was supported by the group unanimously. Deadline for resolutions to bring forward at the BFO AGM is January 27.
The meeting ended soon after. “I just appreciate everyone taking the time to come out today,” said Robert McKinlay. “It’s a really exciting time to be a part of our industry,” he said.
by Margery Frisch
