Deadline flexibility proposed for Ontario's processing vegetable agreements

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

The processing vegetable growers’ board and produce processors may have more flexibility to make small changes to deadline dates for negotiations if both sides agree.

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission is proposing to change regulations to allow for flexibility in the deadline dates for the various crop negotiations the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers board engages in with processors. Currently the dates are fixed by regulation and the two sides can’t change them.

Al Krueger, executive assistant with the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers, says his organization and the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Processors Association requested the change.

There have been situations where negotiations were at the point of an agreement close to being reached but an additional 24 hours or weekend was needed so one side or the other could check some information or consider a position. When negotiations have reached the deadline date, taking that additional time isn’t permitted under the current regulations, he says.

The regulatory change isn’t meant to dramatically alter the negotiation deadline schedule. Instead, it would allow for small one to two-day changes to dates with the agreement of both sides.

Currently, if negotiations don’t result in a deal by the deadline date for the various crops, final offers must be submitted and exchanged. “The regulations, as they exist now, do not allow you to do anything other than exchange final offers,” he says.

The proposal includes information on how to comment. BF