Province approves $45 farm registration fee hike

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

© AgMedia Inc.

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario farmers must pay $45 more for their farm business registration fee starting this year.

In December, the agriculture ministry approved the increase to the annual fee farmers pay to one of three provincial accredited general farm organizations (Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and National Farmers Union-Ontario).

The fee will rise to $195 (plus $9.75 GST) from $150.

Ministry spokesperson Kelly Synnott says farmers can apply for an input tax credit on the GST and get the tax payment back.

Ontario’s smallest general farm group, NFU, fought the increase but lost. Ontario coordinator, Grant Robertson, says government officials told the group if it didn’t implement the increase it could lose accreditation. “The Act actually stipulates the fee and so if we don’t accept the fee then we may be in violation of the Act.”

The Union looked at refunding the $45 increase to its members but the costs of doing that were too high. Instead the money will be put “directly into services back to farmers,” Robertson says.

Both the Ontario Federation and the Christian Farmers are pleased with the increase – the first since legislation establishing the farm business registration fee was passed in 1993.

The increase will enable the Federation and Christian Farmers to work on initiatives, such as more savings on energy costs for farmers, improved safety nets, more revenue opportunities with the Green Energy Act, tax savings, and expanded product and service partnerships to provide farmers with discounts, it says in a Federation press release.

The Federation also notes there was widespread support from farmers for the $195 fee.

Farmers with gross incomes of $7,000 or more must register with Agricorp, which delivers the program for the agriculture ministry, and pick one of the three groups to receive their payment. After registering and paying the fee, farmers can ask the farm group they selected for a refund. BF