Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Election 2011 - What do each of the party's have planned for agriculture?

Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) have compiled the party platforms for agriculture and developed key messages for Canadian Farmers. 

 

Click here for the Platform Comparison Table: http://www.cfa-fca.ca/sites/default/files/Party%20Platform%20Compar...

 

Click here if you are interested in the messaging CFA has provided.  http://www.cfa-fca.ca/media-centre/election-2011 .

Views: 215

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Phil Mount on April 28, 2011 at 3:33am

Actually, the CFA have done nothing of the kind. Some of the columns seem to spell out party platforms quite clearly, while others are missing altogether. This applies to all parties for specific issues, but the column that made me suspicious was for the 'Greens': only 4 positions listed out of a total of 17 headings! Now, I'm not voting for the Green Party, but I had to imagine that they had something to say about agriculture.

So I took a look at the Green Party Platform by following the link that the CFA put at the bottom of their Platform Comparison Table... and in short order easily found policies explicitly dealing with each of the headings except "Young Farmers". Some of those policies are almost identical to planks from other parties - they weren't hard to spot.

Now, I'm a naturally suspicious and cynical person, so I contacted the CFA 10 days ago, and even included the results of my search, helpfully listed by heading, for someone to cut and paste into the chart on the website. Even if they were equally suspicious (and they should be, in their position), it would have taken two minutes to check that these positions were in fact listed in the Green Party Platform.

Jessica Goodfellow, Director of Communications at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, has insisted that "Yes, certainly the chart is meant to be helpful to CFA members. If we missed parts, we apologize." 

Well, an apology only cuts it for so long. Given that she said this 10 days ago, the election is now only 4 days away, and the chart remains unchanged, the only conclusion is that the objective of the chart is not actually to help CFA members compare party platforms. Which is a shame, because it seemed like the CFA were doing something useful. Do annual payments go towards the CFA trying to influence the voting practices of its own membership?

Phil Mount,

Guelph, Ontario

Permalink Reply by Joann on April 29, 2011 at 2:39am

Canada has an entrenched Soverign food security law with entrenched domestic marketing rights and obligations.

 

Not one party has acknowledged those facts.

 

Not one party will acknowledge that domestic farmers have rights, duties and obligations to the domestic peoples which are entrenched in our Constitution.

 

Not one party speaks to entrenched "property" rights.

 

If the different parties will not acknowledge publicly the entrenched foundational rights of our country to protect the public in regards to all things "of" the soil, then all other matters will become inconsequential.

 

Matters of agriculture must not be esoteric. 

 

All Sovereign licenses to trade and sovereign licenses to production must be brought forward for public acknowledgment.

 

How many are there and who has them?

 

Once we understand the very foundation of agriculture, then and only then can we effectively move forward with meaningful policy.

Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on May 1, 2011 at 5:45am
I hope everyone takes time to vote.
Unfortunately with only 2 percent of the voters involved in agriculture, we don't appear to be very important to the politicians.
We need to do what we can to play our part in this election.

Joe

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

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

Guinness World Record attempt to take place in St. Albert on Aug. 22

?ST. ALBERT – If you have ever wanted to witness an attempt at a Guinness World Record, then you will want to be in St. Albert, Ontario on August 22 when an attempt will be made to set a record for the most plow blades pulled simultaneously.

Why Alignment Matters: Domestic Check-Off and the Import Levy

When Canadian beef producers sell cattle, they contribute to the national beef check-off. That investment supports work that benefits the broader Canadian beef industry, including market development, consumer demand, public and stakeholder engagement, and research. When beef or beef cattle are imported into Canada, an import levy is also collected. While the structure is not identical in every detail, the principle behind it is straightforward: beef marketed in Canada should help contribute to the programs that support beef demand in Canada. The national check-off paid by producers and the import levy paid on eligible imports are two parts of a broader investment approach. Together, they help ensure that both domestic beef production and imported beef products are connected to the market development work that strengthens beef’s position with Canadian consumers. For producers, the domestic cattle check-off is collected at the point of sale and includes both national and provincial po

I’ve noticed a lot of wild oat escapes in some of my fields this year; what can I do to prevent it from getting worse next year?

Despite our best efforts, sometimes even the best laid weed control plans go wrong! The first thing to remember is that not all weed escapes are created equal. In some cases, weeds can survive because of application timing issues, challenging weather conditions or late flushes that emerge after spraying. However, when weeds aren’t controlled by herbicide applications, herbicide resistance should also be on your radar. A recent survey in Manitoba found that in fields with uncontrolled wild oats, 100 per cent of populations were resistant to Group 1 products, 82 per cent were resistant to Group 2 products, and 82 per cent were resistant to both Group 1 and 2 herbicides. Those numbers show how important it is to take a closer look at wild oat weed escapes. Identifying why your herbicide failed to control wild oats is the first step toward finding a solution. Start by scouting the field to narrow down the cause. Consider factors such as application timing, weather conditions, late flush

Is fungicide actually effective on Sclerotinia head rot in sunflower?

This is one of the most difficult questions to answer because there are many things to consider. I also don’t want to be outright negative because we do still have options for sclerotinia management in sunflowers. However, management is the operative word. First of all, sclerotinia head rot infections have an interesting pathway. Spores use dead sunflower florets, plus pollen, as the base to infect a sunflower plant. The spores grow into the receptacle, infecting and decaying the entire head after a period of time. Sclerotinia wilt (basal stalk rot) and mid-stalk rot are also infected by the same sclerotinia species, but it will be via the mycelia that grow from the sclerotia bodies in the soil for basal stalk rot. Mid-stalk rot is also infected by ascospores, but this can be earlier in the season than head rot or at the same time. So, management of sclerotinia does not start at flowering. Crop rotation is the most obvious management tool that we are familiar with in sunflowers, but

Using Water More Efficiently in Beef Packing Plants

Packing plants use a time-tested approach to clean their facilities. The first step uses high-pressure hot water to remove fat and meat scraps from equipment, floors and walls. Next, surfaces are cleaned using detergent. Finally, sanitizers are used to further reduce bacterial numbers. Processing companies want to reduce water use as part of their environmental goals and to reduce energy bills. High-pressure water and steam can produce aerosols that capture bacteria and spread them throughout the plant. They can then settle on and cross-contaminate clean surfaces long after the cleaning has been completed, which complicates efforts to effectively clean facilities. Biofilms are another problem. Biofilms are colonies of bacteria surrounded by a protective layer that firmly attaches them to surfaces and shelters the bacteria from hot water, detergents and sanitizers. Biofilms are hard to remove and are commonly found in hard-to-reach places. These researchers investigated potential cro

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service