CFFO: Premier's Mandate Letters Set Tone For Agriculture Policy In The Years Ahead. Any Feedback?

CFFO:

Premier’s Mandate Letters Set Tone for Agriculture Policy in the Years Ahead (Oct 06, 2014)

By Nathan Stevens

The Premier’s recently issued mandates letters to all of the Cabinet Ministers has set the tone for the Provincial Government and Ontario as a whole. The overarching mandate is to promote growth in the economy and job creation, while maintaining fiscal prudence. For Ontario’s farmers, the specifics of several of these plans will shape the future.

For the business of agriculture, there is a focus on strengthening the food processing sector in Ontario. Strengthening our close to home business partners is good for Ontario farmers as it is vital that we have healthy business partners farther up the value chain. The government has also recognized the need for increased natural gas infrastructure in rural Ontario as part of the greater infrastructure plan.

The management practices of farmers may need to shift to meet desired outcomes on several fronts. There is a clear mandate to curb prophylactic use of neonic pesticides over the next year and a half in order to improve pollinator health in Ontario. Furthermore, there will be renewed emphasis on wetlands, strengthening biodiversity, protecting endangered species, and a re-vamped approach to aggregates that will all subtly impact the rural landscape in which farmers operate. Finally, the need to deal with the algae bloom issue in the Great Lakes will drive change for farmers.

There is a great deal of effort that will be placed in land use planning. The review of the Greenbelt Plans and the Growth Plan is of great importance to farmers in the Greater Toronto Area, will set the stage for planning in the most populous region of the country. Looking farther afield, the north has been identified as an opportunity for agriculture. Finally, the Farms Forever Program promises to provide additional support for farmers and farmland in near urban regions of the province.

Farmers will also need to prepare for increased efforts to deal with environment related issues as Ontario strives to reduce its footprint on the land. Dealing with climate change is a high priority and agriculture is expected to do its part. A strengthened Great Lakes Protection Act is on the way. Revamping the province’s approach to waste diversion will impact the food sector. Finally, a “polluter pays” approach will inevitably increase the cost of doing business in Ontario.

The Ontario government has received a strong mandate to implement their vision for Ontario over the next four years. It is an ambitious agenda that will impact the lives of every Ontarian and every business in Ontario. The CFFO will work with its members, other organizations and government in achieving the most effective way for farmers to move forward as responsible players in our great province.

Source: CFFO

▶ Reply to This

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

The Most Wanted Wheat Seed Across the Prairies — AAC WALSH

PART ONE The sign was up before anyone knew who put it there. No name. No description. Just a dark silhouette nailed to the side of the grain elevator, paper already curling at the edges where the prairie wind worried it loose. MOST WANTED. That was all it said. In a town like this, that was enough. People here understood value. They understood timing. They noticed things that arrived quietly and stayed put. By midmorning, more than a few sets of eyes had found their way to the elevator wall, lingered longer than necessary, then moved on without comment. At the café, steam rose off coffee cups and hung in the air like unfinished sentences. “Yield and protein like that,” someone said eventually, not looking up, “oughta be outlawed.” It was meant as a joke. It didn’t land like one. No one asked who that was. Nobody needed to. The phrase carried weight all on its own, passing from table to table, slipping into conversations that paused just long enough to acknowledge it. By the

Canada-China Trade Agreement Boosts Outlook for Canola and Prairie Seed Sheds

Renewed exports may narrow the basis and reduce surplus stocks, but rebuilding grower confidence will take time. Tariffs and economic trends are often discussed in the abstract, but their consequences couldn’t be more concrete for Prairie seed sheds. In recent months, real-world examples have already reared their heads — such as canola multiplications in California facing counter-tariffs — forcing Canada’s seed sector to adapt to a trade environment that can change quickly, even when agreements are reached. The recent trade deal between Canada and China has brought some much-needed relief to the sector, particularly around market access and export movement. But for many farmers and seed companies, the agreement also underscores a hard truth: the impacts of trade disruptions don’t disappear overnight. It is little surprise that global trade ripples affect local decisions: fewer seed options, changing input costs, and constrained access to genetics. “Tariffs create uncertainty in an

Canada Gains Expanded Meat Access in Indonesia

Canada has secured a major expansion of market access for beef and pork exports to Indonesia, marking a significant milestone following the signing of the Canada–Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last September.

'Phone in one hand, beer in the other': High-tech automation is giving farmers more time

Anyone visiting Don Badour’s cow-calf operation in the last 18 months will have noticed his cattle sporting some spiffy orange bling around their necks. The bovine baubles aren’t just for looks, however. They’re part of a sophisticated virtual fencing system that helps the Lanark County farmer monitor and track his herd’s movement and wellbeing. Badour is quite pleased with the investment — and so are the cows. “I thought that the cows might be not too happy with them on, but we put them on, they gave their heads one or two shakes, and that's it,” Badour said during a panel discussion at the 2026 Northern Ontario Ag Conference, hosted by the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance in Sudbury Feb. 6-7. “They've come to realize they're there. So we haven't had any trouble with the cows rejecting them.”? ?Made by the New Zealand company Gallagher, the eShepherd neck bands weigh about eight pounds each and are powered by solar-charged batteries. They run on GPS and the system is ope

Trump EPA sued over reapproval of dicamba herbicide as farm and environmental groups warn of renewed crop damage

Farmers and environmental organizations have launched a new legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing its latest approval of the controversial herbicide dicamba ignores court rulings, scientific evidence and the interests of growers harmed by chemical drift. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court by a coalition that includes the National Family Farm Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, challenges the EPA’s decision to re-register dicamba for use on genetically engineered soybeans and cotton. The decision marks the latest chapter in a years-long dispute over dicamba, a weedkiller widely used in U.S. agriculture but criticized for its tendency to volatilize and drift, damaging nearby crops, orchards and natural vegetation. “EPA’s re-registration of dicamba flies in the face of a decade of damning evidence, real world farming know-how and sound science, and, oh-by-the-way, t

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service