by SUSAN MANN
Ontario farmers without a farm business registration number may soon be temporarily exempt from needing one for next year, says Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin.
The minister says by email he’s working with Finance Minister Dwight Duncan “to make the necessary interim amendments to ensure that farmers remain eligible for the Farm Property Tax Class rate for the 2013 tax year.”
He says he’s also directed ministry staff to take the necessary actions to ensure that farmers who are unable to obtain a valid farm business registration number for the 2012 program year continue having access to certain federal/provincial cost-shared programs, such as the Wildlife Damage Compensation program. Those programs require farmers to have the farm business number to be eligible to participate.
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president Lorne Small says there are five to 10 programs that require farmers to have the number.
McMeekin says they’re moving ahead with an Order-in-Council that will likely be in place by the end of this month to exempt farmers without a number from needing one for 2013. He stresses this is an interim measure. “It is the ministry’s hope the general farm organizations will take the necessary steps to be accredited.”
An Order-in-Council is an administrative decision made by the Ontario government’s Cabinet. It isn’t legislation that is put to a vote of all MPPs in Ontario’s Legislature.
If one or all of the general farm organizations gain accreditation, the Order-in-Council won’t be needed, McMeekin says. But the ministry wants to ensure farmers without a number “aren’t unnecessarily penalized by the current situation.”
As part of the Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, farmers must register annually with Agricorp and pay a $195 plus HST fee. The farmer directs the $195 portion to one of the three previously accredited provincial general farm organizations – Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and National Farmers Union, Ontario. After registering and paying the fee, farmers can ask the group they selected to receive their money for a refund. The number stays valid for the year even if a farmer gets a refund.
The farm business registration process ground to a halt May 23 after the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal didn’t reaccredit the three general farm groups. The groups need to get reaccredited every three years.
In July new hearings were held and the groups are waiting to hear the Tribunal’s decision from that process. But since the July hearings were held the Tribunal has asked the groups to outline their ideas on what the words ‘member’ and ‘membership’ mean.
The Tribunal said at the July hearings it would try to render a decision within 30 days.
Lorne Small, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president, says the legislation written in 1993 uses words “and the last Tribunal wasn’t sure that the meaning of the words were consistent.”
Mark Wales, Ontario Federation of Agriculture president, says they submitted written comments on the definition of a member this past Thursday or Friday. “This is one of those pieces of legal terminology the act’s not clear on.”
Small and Wales both agree it’s unlikely the Tribunal will hand down its decision this week, which will be 30 days from when the hearings were held. Wales says “the latest wrinkle is they’ve asked everybody to submit their thoughts on the definition of a member.”
All three farm groups and the agriculture ministry have been given until Aug. 24 to submit their written comments.
Farmers need a farm business registration number to access a number of provincial government programs and ones the province cost-shares with the federal government. In particular, farmers need the number to get the provincial farm property tax rate that enables them to pay 25 per cent of the municipal residential tax rate on their farmland.
McMeekin says there are 4,900 farmers who don’t have a number for the current program year. While the ministry doesn’t know how the Tribunal will rule on reaccrediting the three groups, “these measures are being taken to ensure should no general farm organization be reaccredited farmers without a farm business registration number won’t be affected by the current situation. We must move to protect these farmers.”
Ministry spokesperson Susan Murray said in an earlier email 90 per cent of farmers applied for and received their farm business registration number by this year’s March 1 deadline.
Wales says he hasn’t seen the wording of the Order-in-Council “but I would want to make sure it is only for 2013 and it should only be to cover” the people who don’t have their number.
Wales adds that even if the Tribunal ruled “tomorrow those people aren’t going to get processed in the normal time.”
Wales, Small and Ann Slater, Ontario coordinator for the National Farmers Union, say the measure to temporarily exempt farmers without a number from needing one won’t impact their organizations’ memberships. Small says they’ve been talking to the ministry about the situation involving farmers being unable to get their number since May 23.
Implementing a temporary exemption is “good business on their (the ministry’s) behalf,” Small says. But CFFO would prefer to be reaccredited.
Slater says a few of the farmers who weren’t registered by May 23 are new to the business while others are simply late in registering. “From the point of view of farmers who registered on time and met deadlines I’m not sure how they’re going to feel about the different treatment for farmers who did things on time and for those who didn’t.”
Both Wales and Small describe their relationship with the minister as excellent. Wales says he talks to the minister all the time. Recently McMeekin gave Canadian Federation of Agriculture delegates at their semi-annual meeting in Toronto in July an update on talks to renew Canada’s national policy framework, Growing Forward 2. “He was amazingly candid. In fact, he’s the only minister who’s actually told anybody anything.”
Small says CFFO finds him “very comfortable to work with and very understanding of the issues.”
Slater says their relationship with McMeekin is okay. But while they’ve heard from the ministry its main concern is for farmers who don’t have farm business registration numbers, NFU’s main concern is continuing to represent and lobby governments for the best interests of family farms.
Ernie Hardeman, Progressive Conservative agriculture critic, couldn’t be reached for comment. BF
General farm accreditation archive
Comments
Why the heck is the ones don,t need insurance to get a cheque for your duck or chicken ,etc. and the ones that has crop damage doesn,t get a cheque without crop insurance?
Talk about a two edge sword and now we are going to get people writing in saying buy insurance for your crops or have another type of program.
There is no different from losing to an animal or mother nature, have an animal killed have insurance or have a program to cover your bad luck.
I believe decades ago Canada and Prvinces seen fit to bring legislation in to have farmers buy subsidized crop insurance, I also believe there was not enough demand to settup or how to setup aplan that would work for livestock, therefore we have when needed addhock aid for livestck farmers when needed
Seem to remember livestock had cheap supplies of grain. The big question we should ask is what is the floating price for corn and beans that crop insurance will have to pay and do they have enough money?
The minister's statement makes no sense.
The deadline to register with a GFO is March 31 of each year. That is a long standing rule. There are farmers that did not register by the deadline. Those farmers should not get an exemption. Why should they get benefits when they chose not to meet the deadline?
If there is a new farmer that started a farm business of bought a farm after March 31, I can understand the exemption.
The minister is not consistent in his treatment towards farmers.
How IN THE DEVIL COULD 4900 farmers forget to register by march , to me all three farm orgs have made fools of themselves ,Watch membership drop if FBR is not needed, Our farm groups are a LAUGHING STOCK like leader ants in an ant hill, We have leaders with ego but representing no common sense, but repreesnting an intercircle of perceved wisdom and greed .
There are lots of reasons why farmers may be still applying for a registration number. I also have farmers whom I represent that paid their money on time, but Agricorp made a mistake processing there application and it was not corrected by May 22 or what ever day they stopped processing applications and they won't correct the mistake. So a member who paid on time is still not registered and doesn't know when they will be. Such a screwup. Why could this just applied to next years registrations if they wanted to make changes and just leave this year alone? And why are they waiting so long after the hearing to decide if they will reacredit? Are they just trying to waste time and money?
John Gillespie
RR 2 Ripley
President Bruce County Federation of Agriculture.
I registered and paid on time with lots of time to spare. If this incompetent minister is going to give a exemption to farmers that failed to register on time then all farmers should have the same courtesy.
Send all the money back to all the farmers. That way all farmers will be treated equally.
gentlemen the government civil servants see farmers paying $10000 plus per acre for land, Ontario is now a have not province with hugh debt, So what a fantastic way to manuerve the province to eventual banning farm tax rebates.
Strange things happen
You over estimate the government's abilities.
When was the last time we had a minister that represented farmers competently in Ontario?
Jack Riddell, Helen Johns, and Carol Mitchell, all quite-competently represented farmers - Carol got "sand-bagged" by the on-going wind turbine fiasco, but that didn't diminish her ability to deal with issues of a more agricultural nature.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
They might be nice people but did it qualify them to be competent with important matters?
William Stewart was probably the best minister in the last 50 years. At least the government cared about farmers then.
I totally agree there should be no special arrangement made for those who where late filing for their FBR number unless they were a new farmer or farm business.
If people had to sit out a year and pay the higher tax level they would soon make sure they didn't forgot to pay on time.
However if it was ever challenged in the courts i don't think the government would win, it isn't right to mandate farmers to join any organization even if their is an option to get their money back.
Religious exemptions shouldn't be the only way out, if you can support any of the GFO's
You wait and see, i will betcha the government has some thing up its sleeve,
and before long it wont be mandatory to join a GFO, i believe this because of all the efforts they are going through to figure out what and who constitutes a member and membership.
We have the right to associate and their for have the right to not associate.
If some would challenge this in the Supreme Court, i would bet a $100.00 round bale of hay, the government would lose.
The PFO this year will work to lobby the government to add a new box where farmers can request their money back, with out it having to go to a GFO, in the first place.
Sean McGivern
President Practical Farmers of Ontario
That makes sense. But I think the gov. has found a way to pave the way whereby only one GFO will survive. There has been calls to only have one farm org. and I can see the results of the tribunal elimating all GFOs except one.
Gov. gets the one farm group by default not by farmers vote.
Gov Farm Programs and the Farm Tax Rebate should not be tied to a membership . Premise ID is tied to programs but not a GFO membership . It has been almost 20 years of stable funding . It's time to let them go on their own . Oh but then the Liberals would not have been able to push through the Green Belt and the Green Enenrgy Act . OFA played a key role in representing farmers or was it McFlinty and Fiberals on both of those .
I am flabbergasted that OMAFRA/ Agricorp is asking the groups how they define "member" and "membership". What is this a grade 11 English project!? After using the same Act for several years, now they want to nitpick.
Pretty sure there are lots of issues which need attention:
Drought
Drought
Growing Forward 2
Rainfall insurance - revamp? Why is only 10% of farmers using it?
OSPCA - revamp. Yes I am aware that technically OMAFRA is not in charge of this, but the could/should play a role.
Feed/food Prices.
Clean water issues - including run off from greenhouses.
Endangered species / species at risk - legislation going too far.
And lots of other issues.
Get this straightened out ASAP, everybody, and deal with the real issues at hand.
Unsigned comment posted August 21, 2012 - 7:15pm deleted by editor
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