The Lambton Federation of Agriculture again had a very active year. The following are some of the highlights.

In November a presentation was made to the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Agriculture. Also in November a group of us attended a meeting in Ridgetown with regard to the pending legislation on the “Nutrient Management Act

In December we again participated with BOO Dunwoody and OMAFRA with the Farm Financial Management and Tax Seminar. Also in December we organized an area meeting with Marcel Beaubien MPP over a tax proposal from Middlesex County Council to tax intensive livestock operations at a different level than normal farm operations. It was also attended by representatives from Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Kent federations of agriculture.

February saw “Food Freedom Day” and was one of a number of radio interviews done with Sue Storr and her “Talkback” show. We also utilized print media during the year and Debbie Coke did her report on the CFCO farm show.

March saw the” Standing Committee on Agriculture” visits our County and LFA made a presentation to them. In both Mar and April both urban and rural M.P.P.’s in Lambton and Middlesex were visited in regard to the “Made in Ontario” safety net proposal.

Plympton-Wyoming Council passed an interim bylaw restricting new livestock operations to be built. A number of meetings were held on that with a presentation being made by LFA at a public meeting in June.

Dalton McGuinty visited the county in July and met with some members of the LFA and commodity boards.

Certainly one of the highlights of the year was getting our own LFA website up and running. The website has been well received by the community would like to again thank the many sponsors who bought advertising space on the site and with their help we were able to launch the site at no cost to our federation. In future years any money brought in over and above our cost of administering the site will be used for scholarship money for Lambton students.

Our Secretary Lois Wakefield officially announced to the LFA she would be retiring at the end of our business year Sept 30th. We have hired Mrs. Cathy Young and look forward to working with her in the new year when she is able to begin with us. Unfortunately due to some serious family health problems her commencement with the job has been delayed and Lois has agreed to carry on till such time Cathy can start. We wish Cathy’s family well and wish to thank Lois for her many dedicated years to this organization.

It has been my pleasure to continue to work with the county commodity boards and look forward to that continued good working relationship.

This is some of the activities your federation was involved in during the year, and I would like to close by thanking all the directors for their involvement and support this year and especially thank Maria Van Bommel and Lois for their work and Vice President Dennis for taking on my duties when l couldn’t attend some functions.  It has indeed been my privilege and honour to serve as your LFA President during the past year.

~Jim  Duffy~
President, Lambton Federation of Agriculture

November 2002 President’s Report
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