Ontario Agriculture

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Agricorp too heavy handed?

This past month a new policy from Agricorp was brought to my attention that has resulted in some board members of various agricultural commodity groups to resign. Apparently the new rules state that you either work for Agricorp or you can sit on a local volunteer agricultural organization board of directors - but not both.
It went over worse than a "lead balloon" (so to speak) locally. It seems convenient that Agricorp developed policies that benefit the organization but does not good for the agricultural community. Conflict of Interest is the excuse. See the article written by Better Farming for further explanation.
Is Agricorp taking it too far or should we all quit our local boards when a potential conflict of interest may occur?

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Permalink Reply by John Schwartzentruber on January 7, 2010 at 2:36am
How could anyone say that god is too heavy handed?
Permalink Reply by Ken McCormack on January 31, 2010 at 3:35pm
This does seem a bit over the top. I can see some senior positions or Agricorp directors being restricted, But all staff? Many local NFP agriculture groups are hurting for organizers now. To cut them further is to eliminate them. This industry is in a downward spiral for the small producer.

With all those who keep demanding audits of Agricorp I can only say that one was completed and clearly showed Agricorp was not given the resources to develop the system they need for modern programs. The CAIS database is being used for purposes it was never intended. The audit made excellent recommendations. We do not need more audits, we now need the same people that demanded the audits to demand the government give Agricorp some one time additional funding to implement the auditor's report. After all Agricorp has wisely not taken funds from the farm programs to use for developing processes from the report, let's give them credit where it is due and help them out to serve us better.

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