2024 – A Year of Advocating, Learning, and Organizing with Our Members

National Farmers Union – Ontario Newsletter
The Rural Voice | December 2024

This year, NFU-O members and farm leaders fought hard to protect Ontario farmland, learned valuable skills to help support their growing businesses, and organized around issues that impact their livelihoods. Here is what NFU-O members got up to this year!

Advocating for Farmland Protection
We denounced the farmland expropriation in Wilmot Township through a letter to Premier Ford and Elected Officials in the Region of Waterloo. NFU-O members held and joined rallies to fight against this farmland threat. We advocated to Prime Minister Trudeau to bring the federal Pickering Lands being held for a potential airport into an expanded Rouge National Urban Park to protect its natural heritage, support healthy soils and sustainable food production, and increase equity and diversity within Canada’s food system.

We advocated that electrification development should be complementary to farmland protection in a letter to Minister Smith regarding the green energy procurement guidelines. We also submitted a response for the new Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) advocating for a balanced approach to development and farmland protection. We added a new NFU-O website feature that helps track and fight against farmland grabs in Ontario.

Learning About Soil Health, Nutrient Management, HR Practices, and Land Access
We worked with farmers to release our newest report, “Ontario Farmers for Agricultural Conservation,” on farmer attitudes and perceptions of nutrient management detailing the impacts of agricultural runoff on Lake Erie’s water health. Some recommendations included exploring cross-compliance for on-farm conservation practices and tax or federal program incentives, and working with farmers to develop synthetic fertilizer regulations, as British Columbia has done.

We hosted our 2024 AGM & Convention, “Soil: A Matter of Biology” where 75+ members participated in panel discussions on soil health, nutrient cycling and soil performance, heard about funding pathways for soil health initiatives, discussed policy, and elected new leaders. We ran an informative series of four HR workshops with over 95 participants, focusing on topics like: hiring and incentives, HR fundamentals, interpersonal dynamics, training and retention, planning, task management, and
delegation. We held 12 land access workshops in the GTA, Grey and Bruce Counties, Kingston, and Ottawa. We discussed land access stories from the field, diversity in farming, alternative strategies for land access, and more!

Organizing Around Concerns That Impact Livelihoods
We held a meeting with over 40 participants to explore opportunities for non-quota egg production after hearing from members about challenges they faced with selling
their non-quota eggs at market. We held meetings with farm members in eastern Ontario to discuss ongoing challenges in accessing abattoirs, especially after the devastating fire at Quinn’s meats. Many farmers need to travel hours to get to an abattoir, if they can get in at all.

Do you have any concerns you would like to discuss with us? Call Dave Thompson: 705-738-3993 x102

FBR Season is Just Around the Corner!

Choose the NFU-O on your FBR this January! Scan the QR code or call Agricorp at 1-866- 327-3678 to renew your FBR. Select the NFU-O and join thousands of passionate, innovative farmers across Ontario working for a food and farm system that is better for farmers, eaters, and the land.

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