By Drew Spoelstra, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Carson Wagner, President, Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario

Farm leaders from across Canada recently gathered in Ottawa for the annual conference of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA). It’s an opportunity for farmers, industry stakeholders and government officials to discuss key issues impacting Canadian agriculture and setting the organization’s priorities for the year to come.

We were both part of the Ontario delegation to the CFA meeting this year – Drew as a grain, beef and milk producer from Binbrook and president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), and Carson as a dairy farmer from New Hamburg and president of the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario (JFAO).

Canada is a large country and although we’re known around the world as an agricultural powerhouse, what agriculture looks like in each region of Canada can be quite different due to geography, climate and demographics.

The CFA event gives those of us in the farm community a chance to learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing our fellow farmers across the country as we engage in conversations, network and debate the resolutions that have been submitted by our counterparts nationwide.

Not surprisingly, trade, tariffs and Canada-U.S. relations played a huge role in the conference this year. This was also the subject of two resolutions that OFA brought forward.

One requested a strong Canadian government response to any tariffs coming forward from the United States; the other urged the federal government not to use Canada’s water and access to that resource in any negotiations with the U.S.

Ontario’s two other resolutions addressed the need for funding to implement recommendations in the recently released Senate report on soil health spearheaded by Senator Rob Black, and a request for CFA to advocate for a permanent accelerated capital cost allowance measure for farmers that would mirror what is available to farmers in the United States and support the competitiveness of Canadian farm businesses.

For a few years now, the OFA has also invited young farmers and future agriculture leaders to attend the CFA annual meeting with our directors and staff.

It’s part of our organization’s approach to leadership development. We believe strongly in supporting and encouraging our next generation of farm leaders to get to know more about the work that OFA does on behalf of its members and why it matters that agriculture is represented with a strong voice.

In addition to Carson, our young leader participants this year included Jessica McCann, a beef and grain farmer from Milton; first generation grain farmer Daniel Chiapetta from Simcoe County; and sheep and beef farmer Katie Stewart from the eastern Ontario community of Douglas.

For the first time, this year’s CFA annual meeting also included a special program for young farmers, which attracted more than 35 participants from across the country representing many different regions and farm types.

As president of JFAO, it was very intriguing for me to connect with other young leaders from across Canada and get to know more about who they are and what they do, as well as how they try to encourage the next generation of farmers to become interested in the work of our farm organizations.

We talked a lot about land access, land ownership and succession planning, for example. These are issues that affect the older generation of farmers too – they worry about the affordability of land and who will be able to take over their farms just as much as we think about how we can get our farming careers underway and what we’ll need to do in order to be profitable, competitive and sustainable.

Both the OFA and JFAO understand the importance of nurturing and encouraging our young farmers.

We may be the next generation of farm leaders, but all of us are also already involved in farming today, whether we are part of a family farm, working for an agricultural industry partner, or running our own farm-related businesses.

Opportunities like these are an important part of leadership development and will help ensure agriculture continues to have strong leaders who will represent our sector and help ensure Farms and Food Forever.

For more information:

Tyler Brooks
Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
519-994-2578
comms@ofa.on.ca