As the new LFA year began we changed to a new employee, thus I would like to thank Marilyn Jones for her excellent effort on our behalf and welcome Brenda Miner in her role. Also, best wishes to our MSR Becky Lunn-De Wit who has a new baby boy, Wilhelm. We also welcome Martha Harris who is our acting MSR during Becky’s maternity leave.
The year has proven to be a challenging one, starting out with the federal election, several rallies about the farm income crisis, and difficult weather during harvest season. Some of our activities will be highlighted in the committee reports. others I will give a brief over view .
The BDO Farm financial seminar was again a great success. We appreciate the Sarnia BDO staff and Bryan Boyle of OMAFRA cooperating to organize this event for the many producers who take advantage of the program each year.
The OFA President, Ron Bonnett toured the county, meeting with several groups of producers, from Rutherford to Ipperwash, listening to the concerns. After a long snowy day, he met with the board to dialogue about issues from their view point.
Our MPP Maria Van Bommel organized a day at Queens Park for LFA and the other local federations in her riding to go and learn about the government. “Government 101 ” was excellent and we appreciate the effort it took to organize the day.
On the political front, LFA spent many hours lobbying both levels of government for resolution to the farm income crisis. The major effort put forth to send buses to Ottawa was an excellent example of cooperation with producers and agribusiness to make it happen. The donations and LFA sponsorship made available a free bus ride for producers to the nation’s capital to make their voices heard.
Locally, we invited MP’s to Mark Lumley’s farm to meet with the Lambton commodity groups in order to hear about grassroots issues.
LFA made a donation to the Lambton Kent Agriculture in the Classroom committee which promotes agriculture to our students and assists in funding the Science Education Partnership operated by the school boards in the county.
The Farm map project was the highlight of the year with the project being positive in several aspects. Primarily, it was an opportunity to assist producers who sell products at the farm gate. It gained media attention for our endeavour and LFA, but also it gave us a chance to partner with several other groups in the county.
The challenges continue at year end with the farm income crisis still with us, wet fields to harvest, and many issues to deal with in agriculture. But, remember we are still “Farmers working for Farmers”.
I want to thank all the directors who give of their time on behalf of the Lambton Federation of Agriculture.
~Debbie Coke~
President, Lambton Federation of Agriculture