Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

The CFFO Commentary: Christmas Story Leads to Actions to Build up Individuals, Families and Communities

By John Clement
December 23, 2011
 
Christmas is an important celebration on the Christian calendar. We believe that God became incarnate, offered his life to achieve our redemption, and left us with a mission to join in the work of advancing the “good news.”
 
The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario finds its roots in the “good news” that life can be lived according to patterns that are both liberating for farmers and which build up families and communities. Many of our members believe that God has called them to participate in the biological cycle of food production and they value the development of public policies that help them as producers, marketers and citizens. Through it all, the members of the CFFO hope to be a blessing to Ontario agriculture.
 
One of the biggest contributions the CFFO has brought to the province is a focus on fairness in public policies. We’ve had lots of lively conversations amongst our members due to the fact that nearly everyone has their own particular take on what’s fair in a given situation. That being said, there are three broad areas that have defined much of the CFFO’s contribution.
 
A continual perspective within the CFFO is that public programs should never allow one farmer to “work the system” so that an advantage can be gained over a fellow farmer. Nobody wants to see public monies being used to eventually subsidize farm expansions, even though many want to see support offered to help farmers through market or weather losses.
 
Another perspective that is often heard singles out public programs that leave some farmers out of the benefits. For example, farmers can sometimes be disadvantaged because programs can reward specialization while ignoring attempts to manage risk through on-farm diversification.
 
Finally, CFFO members have been ready to offer leadership on fairness issues that focus on gaining access to market opportunities. For example, marketing systems may sometimes need tweaking to ensure opportunities to new entrants. This is always seen within a balancing act that tries to also be fair to farmers who have already made a significant investment in the industry.
 
That’s a very quick overview of the very practical aspects of how the Christmas story has impacted many of the 4,200 members who have chosen to join the CFFO. Whatever your perspectives on such matters, I wish all listeners and readers a blessed Christmas and extend my best wishes for the New Year.

 
 

John Clement is the General Manager for the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy. The CFFO Commentary is heard weekly on CFCO Chatham, CKNX Wingham, and UCB Canada radio stations in Chatham, Belleville, Bancroft, Brockville and Kingston and in Brantford and Woodstock. It is also found on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org. CFFO is supported by 4,200 family farmers across Ontario.

Views: 76

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

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

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service