Photo: Grain Farmers of Ontario interim board. Front (L-R) Kevin Marriott, Mark Huston, Don Kenny, Henry Van Ankum; Back (L-R) Dale Mountjoy, Leo Guilbeault, Jeff Davis, Kevin Runnels, Richard Blyleven, Bob Norris, Joe Thomson, Robert Massie, John Morrison.
© AgMedia Inc.
by GEOFF DALE
The newly formed Grain Farmers of Ontario plans to have its new chair in place by mid-February.
The establishment of the chair will be one of the final steps in the merger of the Ontario Corn Producers’ Association, Soybean Growers and the Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board that began with preliminary discussions in 2004.
In the meantime, an interim board of directors, comprised of the chairs, their alternates and the general managers of the former organizations, is in charge. It’s the same group that supervised the merger and includes: Kevin Marriott, Mark Huston, Don Kenny, Henry Van Ankum, Dale Mountjoy, Leo Guilbeault, Jeff Davis, Kevin Runnels, Richard Blyleven, Bob Norris, Joe Thomson, Robert Maissie, John Morrison, Larry Lynn and Fred Wagner.
Meetings to elect the 15 directors, who will eventually elect the chair from their numbers, begin Jan. 11 as follows:
• Jan 11 District 15: Northern Ontario — contact Louise Bignell at the GFO office for information
• Jan 12 10 a.m. District 14: Prescott, Russell, Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry — Avonmore Community Centre
• Jan 13 10 a.m. District 13: Prince Edward, Lennox, Addington, Frontenac, Lanark, Leeds, Grenville, Renfrew, Ottawa — Temple's Sugar Bush and Restaurant, Lanark
• Jan 14 9 a.m. District 12: Durham, Northumberland, Kawartha, Peterborough, Hastings — Dalewood Golf and Curling Club
• Jan 14 7:30 p.m. District 11: Dufferin, Simcoe, Halton, Peel, York — Orangeville Fairgrounds
• Jan 18 10 a.m. District 10: Grey, Bruce, Wellington — Clifford Community Hall
• Jan 19 9:45 a.m. District 9: Perth — Mitchell Golf & Country Club • Jan 20 9:30 a.m. District 6: Haldimand, Brant, Hamilton, Niagara — Kinsmen Hall, Caledonia Fairgrounds
• Jan 21 9 a.m. District: 8 Huron — Holmesville Community Centre • Jan 22 10 a.m. District 7: Waterloo, Oxford — Quality Hotel & Suites. Woodstock
• Jan 25 9 a.m. District 1: Essex — St. John’s Parrish Hall, Woodslee
• Jan 26 9 a.m. District 4: Middlesex — Coldstream Community Centre
• Jan 27 9 a.m. District 5: Elgin, Norfolk — Tillsonburg Community Centre,
• Jan 28 9 a.m. District 2: Kent — Country View Golf Course at Oungah
• Jan 28 6 p.m. District 3: Lambton — Royal Canadian Legion, Wyoming
Each district will elect a minimum of eight delegates.
GFO manager of public affairs and communications Erin Fletcher says the delegates have five days following their district annual meeting to elect a director. “That name is submitted to the board and, according to Farm Products Marketing Commission regulations, we have until mid-March to have our inaugural directors meeting,” she adds. “At that meeting a chair will be elected. We have targeted mid-February.”
Once in place, the new board is expected to focus initially on policy development and business planning.
GFO received official status from the province Jan. 01, 2010.
According to a recent press release, the organization is the largest provincial commodity board and represents 28,000 farmers and five million acres of farmland. BF
