Ruth Vogel, OFA Member Services Representative for Leeds, Grenville, Frontenac and Dundas, was awarded a well-deserved Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her years of outstanding dedication and volunteer work throughout the community. Ruth said she was completely surprised and honoured to receive this prestigious award. Pictured with Ruth at the medal presentation are Gord Brown, MP for Leeds Grenville, Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds Grenville and Bob Runciman, Senator and former MPP for Leeds Grenville. Ruth was recognized for her years of dedication and volunteer work in her community.

We are very proud of you Ruth, congratulations!

By Mark Wales, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)

What do you get when you put more than 500 Ontario farmers and agricultural stakeholders into a room together? If you’re a political leader on the brink of a provincial election call, you get a captive audience from some of the most influential ridings across the province.

This year, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) will play host to Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin, New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horvath, and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak at our annual convention on November 19th, 2012. The presence of these high profile speakers at OFA’s annual flagship event speaks to the importance of our farming community as an economic engine and an electorate, hailing from rural ridings across the province.

OFA prides itself on being a strong lobby organization that works to represent and champion the interests of Ontario farmers through government relations, farm policy development, community representation and media relations. The cornerstone of our work is our connection to Ontario’s policy makers – to work closely with political parties and to influence policy platforms. The attendance at the Annual General Meeting of the Minister and opposition leaders presents a great opportunity, in advance of a pending election to hear directly about how each party sees agriculture and its role in working with our farm businesses. 

We are proud of the track record we have with government over the years, and we look forward to consulting with our grassroots members to ensure that during the next provincial election, issues that are important to Ontario farm families become talking points on party platforms across the political spectrum.

The theme of our 2012 Annual General Meeting is Growing Ontario – Growing Better. It says a lot about what we are and what we want to accomplish across our farm businesses in Ontario. Food production and processing are intimately linked and mutually dependent in Ontario and represent a major economic driver. Growing Ontario reflects what we do and the vast potential of our farm sector to expand Ontario’s economy, its job base and our rural communities.

Growing Better reflects the need for constant improvement in what we do in order to achieve the growth that is possible. We need to continuously improve what we grow to ensure we meet modern consumer demand. And, we need to grow in-step with sustainability goals. We must continue tosecure better public policy to enable prosperous farming, to enable better food knowledge across our youth and to facilitate better food access.

The Annual General Meeting is always a good time to reflect on the recent past but a better time to look ahead to a brighter future. To register for OFA’s annual convention, please visit www.ofa.on.ca.


For more information contact:

Mark Wales
President
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
519-773-6706

Neil Currie
General Manager
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
519-821-8883