“I love this industry, it’s fantastic,” said Leblond, adding he’s honoured by the trust and confidence the board has in him. “We’re super lucky (with this board.) My ambition is to do what the industry and producers are telling us to do. It’s that simple.”

Why it matters: There’s been unprecidented growth in beef prices, meaning a need for leadership in the sector.

The first-generation Powassan producer is a certified engineering technologist and operates a 35-head grass-fed cow-calf operation with his family.

Leblond is committed to bringing his Northern Ontario perspective, municipal government experience and positive yet determined solutions-based attitude to address any issues presented to the board.

Alongside Leblond, the board welcomed newly elected vice-president Don Badour of Perth. Two new directors also joined: Grey County’s Lisa Pallister for the feedlot sector and Don Scott from Grenville County, who replaces outgoing president Craig McLaughlin for the eastern region.

“His leadership, dedication, steady presence and sense of humour have made him a valued part of this team,” said Leblond of the outgoing president. “He made a genuine effort to include directors and staff in the decision-making part of that process; he gave everyone time and space to share their perspectives. He led thoughtfully, respectfully and with appreciation for the team around him.”

The two men worked closely together this year on the provincial beef association working group to develop a unified path for the Canadian Cattle Association’s future.

Leblond’s top priorities are advancing traceability, streamlining the Beef Cattle Marketing Act and securing a provincial guarantee under the Beef Breeder Loan Program.

“When you look around this room and see all these young producers, that’s who it’s going to help,” he said. “That program I’d love to see get across the finish line.”

McLaughlin’s confident that Leblond will step handily into the role and help accomplish whatever the board sets out to do.

“When people just sit down and roll up their sleeves, they can find solutions and make the industry better,” said McLaughlin, adding Leblond is a “fixer,” which has and will continue to serve the organization well.

“I’m just estimating, but approximately 20 per cent of our voting delegates are under the age of 35,” said McLaughlin. “We were trying to provide them with opportunities, because sometimes that’s their biggest challenge — getting an opportunity.”

One solution was to establish the Ontario Beef Youth Alliance five years ago, which now has over 300 members. Another was BFO’s BUILD leadership program, revamped and relaunched in 2024 with the Rural Ontario Institute after a seven-year hiatus.

“It currently has over 20 applicants. Sadly, we won’t be able to accept them all this year,” he said.

StrongHER in Beef, a new, sold-out event launching in March, was created to celebrate, connect, and empower women across Ontario’s beef industry, rapidly growing from a seed into a cohesive event within a few years.

“There’s a demand for that (kind of programming),” McLaughlin said. “We have realized, just like on your farm, what you invest in BFO will come to fruition years down the road.”

Along with the newly elected directors, several were re-elected or acclaimed for another term. Don Hargrave secured a third term representing cow-calf operators. Jairus Maus will serve a second term as feedlot director, and Joost van der Heiden will serve a second term as background director. Emily Bromley will complete her term as the BFO youth representative this year.

The post Jason Leblond steps into Beef Farmers of Ontario presidency appeared first on Farmtario.

That’s why the Beef Farmers of Ontario tested the Simply Voting app at its recent annual general meeting, to see if it could provide delegates unable to attend with an option beyond the usual live stream.

LeaAnne Wurmli, BFO director of communications, said the plan resulted from multiple discussions among delegates, the board, and the potential to offer a hybrid model for the annual meeting.

The BFO’s long-term relationship with service provider Data on the Spot prompted the use of Simply Voting during COVID-19 for advanced elections in 2021 and 2022.

• READ MORE: Ontario beef producers frustrated by delays in resolving SRM issue

It was demonstrated this year by Kim Jo Bliss, a BFO director from northern Ontario, who couldn’t attend in person.

“Before we introduced the hybrid annual general meeting, we wanted to test out the technology to see if it would work,” said Wurmli. “(Bliss) voted from home, and her report back was that it went seamlessly.”

The technology’s speed and agility fit an interactive voting platform, unlike the typical clickers normally used, which isolated at-home delegates from voting and required votes to be aggregated into an Excel file to generate results.

In contrast, the web platform automatically provides results within moments, and dovetailed into the ranked ballot process BFO introduced last year.

“It definitely helped with the speed of the elections this year, even though we had some delegates that struggled a bit to get online and get their ballots open,” Wurmli said.

“But once they were open and could cast their votes, it went quite quickly.”

Jason Leblond, BFO vice-president, praised the staff who ensured the software met the criteria and praised producers for working through any challenges with good humour and patience.

“(Their determination) proved that it worked,” he said.

Tara Terpstra, Ontario Pork’s vice-chair, attended the BFO meeting and said the process appeared seamless with significant producer buy-in for the new technology.

“Voting technology is evolving,” said Terpstra. “Ontario Pork is assessing different ways to make the voting process more efficient and user-friendly for our members.”

BFO is evaluating feedback from voting delegates on several annual meeting-related questions, including impressions of the voting software.

“We’ll be having a more fulsome conversation on how it went and what we might want to do next year, If it looks the same or if it looks slightly different,” said Wurmli.

While the annual meeting will always have a livestream, Leblond said Simply Voting gives producers a new, easy-to-navigate tool to incorporate voting and resolution debate.

The post Beef Farmers of Ontario tests new voting technology appeared first on Farmtario.

Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s election to leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but has yet to concede defeat to his fierce ideological rival.

He is expected to speak to the nation later on Monday, but his complete radio silence so far has raised concerns about the orderly handover of power and how long the blockades could last.

Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (PRF) said on Monday that truckers have partially or fully blocked roads in 16 states, up from 12 states earlier. Truckers are one of far-right leader Bolsonaro’s key constituencies, and they have been known to cause economic chaos in Brazil when they shut down highways.

Video footage showed some truckers demanding “military intervention” and saying they would not accept Lula as president.

The highest number of blockades was in Santa Catarina, a state where Bolsonaro has a massive support base, and Mato Grosso do Sul, an important grains-growing and cattle state, according to PRF’s national branch.

Santos port, from where much of Brazil’s grains are exported, told Reuters the protests have not affected cargo movement yet. Paranagua’s port authority said one of the main roads giving access to its port was being blocked by protesters, but that there was no immediate disruption to cargo movement.

However, Normando Corral, president of farm group Famato, said the roadblocks in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s biggest farm state, could disrupt agricultural shipments if they persist.

One of the state’s main exports this time of year is Brazil’s winter corn crop, which is planted after soybeans are harvested.

“It’s too soon to say if it’s going to interfere with the flow of production, because the blockades started yesterday,” Corral said. “I don’t know how long it will last.”

Rota do Oeste, a toll road operator that administers an 850-km (530-mile) stretch of the BR 163 highway that cuts through Mato Grosso said at around 2.30pm local time there were blockages in the regions of Nova Mutum, Sorriso, Sinop, Lucas do Rio Verde and Rondonopolis.

Evandro Lermen, a member of grain cooperative Coacen in the Brazilian ‘soy capital’ Sorriso, told Reuters corn shipments were not being disrupted by the protests.

He said trucks had not been not loaded with corn over the weekend because of a Nov. 2 national holiday.

“We are not worried,” he said, adding that shipping schedules showed no delays.

Rumo, a leading rail company that operates Latin America’s biggest grain terminal in Rondonopolis, said none of its operations in Brazil had been affected so far.

– Additional reporting by Roberto Samora, Alberto Alerigi and André Romani

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With municipal elections rapidly approaching, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) encourages agri-food producers to ask hard questions at debates before they vote. 

“For voters who care about preserving farmland in Ontario, this fall’s municipal elections are critically important,” said Peggy Brekveld, OFA president, in a release. “When you cast a ballot on Oct. 24th, we kindly ask that you cast it well-informed of where your candidates stand on preserving farmland.”

Why it matters: Municipal official plans and urban boundary settings determine where development should occur, making them the first farmland defenders.

The OFA is encouraging voters to ask where candidates stand on the use of Minister’s Zoning Orders which allow municipalities to bypass standard urban development planning processes and reduce comments and community input into development proposals. 

“When an application comes forth that would dig up or pave over land that is currently growing food, fibre, fuel or flowers in order to build homes, a shopping plaza or new school,” said Brekveld. “Municipal councillors are the ones who get the first opportunity to say yay or nay.”

Additionally, asking candidates about their platform regarding public transit, the purpose of urban boundaries, new development incentives they might support and their future vision for the community will reveal their understanding and thinking around land use.

According to the Census of Agriculture released in the spring, Ontario loses 319 acres of productive farmland daily, equivalent to enough acreage to grow 75.6 million carrots, 23.5 million apples, or 1.2 million bottles of Ontario VQA wine.

The OFA does not endorse any one candidate or political party. Still it has developed Agriculture Matters: A guide for municipal councillors and staff, outlining issues facing local farmers and how to grow into an agriculture-friendly community.

“It is easy to take our farmland for granted, but voters should remember that farmland is a finite resource,” Brekveld said. “Once that farm is turned into a shopping centre or subdivision, that land is gone forever.”

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The $198.6 billion, 268-page budget didn’t have many surprises. Titled “Ontario’s Plan to Build,” it outlines major commitments previously announced, but with a bigger spend on large infrastructure projects. 

The ‘big build’ the party has in mind, and that it says will grow the province’s economy and employment numbers, involves spending on infrastructure that really only helps those living and working in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The plan calls for $25.1 billion over 10 years on new highway construction and expansions to ease congestion (with some of the proposed roads going through the Greenbelt and agricultural lands) and $61.6 billion over 10 years for public transit, including a new subway transit plan for the GTA and transforming the GO Transit network into a modern, reliable and fully integrated rapid transit network.

Part of the plan is expanding mining development in the north to supply minerals needed for the batteries to power electric vehicles. Expanding EV production as well as trying to re-invigorate the auto manufacturing sector are key to the party’s election campaign. 

While hospitals, schools and long-term care homes will see a funding boost, there was little mention of what the province plans to do for the agriculture sector. 

The few agricultural items mentioned in the budget deal with enhancing and maintaining worker safety and supporting food processing labour shortages. 

These aren’t really ‘new’ investments, and they are tiny in comparison to the infrastructure projects. For example, the plan will provide $10 million in 2022–23 for ongoing support and expansion of the Enhanced Agri-Food Workplace Protection Program,
a plan that had already been announced. Another $10 million is earmarked in 2022–23 to establish a Food Security and Supply Chain Fund, which the plan says will “strengthen Ontario’s food supply, including addressing barriers to recruitment by attracting and retaining domestic workers, closing sector skill gaps, and supporting the well-being of workers.” 

To its credit, the Ontario government has acknowledged the lack of food processing capacity and labour, and recently announced a fund of $25 million to help address this. The budget maintains the financial support for Phase 2 of the Natural Gas Expansion plan and says it will begin consulting this fall on “how to best deliver Phase 3 of the program”, so there is hope that more rural communities will have access to natural gas in the coming years. 

But providing only $5 million in the plan in 2022–23 for emergency support initiatives to help livestock producers if emergency processing disruptions occur, without mention of any other business risk program funding for other agriculture sectors, shows the plan falls short and is obviously not in step with a sector that contributes $39.5 billion to the province’s GDP. 

When the budget was released, farmers were facing the greatest amount of uncertainty seen in decades, with geopolitical factors putting inputs in short supply and increasing costs almost daily. 

The need for better financial supports was highlighted by both the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) and the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) in their pre-election consultation submissions. 

The GFO said “grain farmers need to know the government has their back. Financial supports need to be explored as there is nothing within the current Business Risk Management suite that will provide the support that farmers may need if worst case scenarios are realized on prices for fertilizer and fuel.”

The BFO asked the government to raise the program cap from $150 million to $250 million annually in the Ontario Risk Management Program “to ensure our farms have the tools to manage today’s food production risks.”

The PC party says the budget will hold if they are elected. 

Where does agriculture fit into the ‘big build’? 

Appeasing voters in the GTA by reducing their commute time is all well and good but it is illogical if that expansion comes at the cost of farmland and the province’s ability to produce its own food. 

Agriculture can play a key role in the economic expansion and recovery of the province, but foresight and financial stability are needed to make that happen. 

Rural areas need roads and infrastructure, too – and farmers need assurance that they can make a living.

The post Editorial: Pre-election budget misses the mark appeared first on Farmtario.

United States President Donald Trump inflicted havoc on American trading partners and was the base of a deeply corrupted leadership that valued economic and personal gain over human life or common decency.

He bullied Canadians into renegotiating a trade deal, with dairy producers here losing out as a result.

In July, after Trump openly mused about sending armed troops to the border and tried to stop much-needed medical supplies from arriving in Canada, I argued in this space that we should re-evaluate our relationship with our southern neighbours.

Calls for Canada to become more self-reliant have existed for decades and Trump’s actions led me to fully support Canada’s measures to become more resilient, like drastically increasing our food processing capacity, which has the added benefit of creating value to agri-food exports.

Despite Trump’s exit, Canada should continue to explore the so-called “Third Option” of seeking how to live “distinct from, but in harmony with” the U.S., an idea first proposed by former Canadian politician Mitchell Sharp in the 1970s.

He argued Canada should, “develop and strengthen the Canadian economy and other aspects of its national life and in the process reduce the present Canadian vulnerability.”

Even with Biden in the White House, Canada should diversify trade with other nations and, at the same time, increase its own self-sufficiency.

Restoring order to international trade can’t be a priority of a Biden presidency still fighting the pandemic — and even if it was, Americans will continue to look out for Americans first.

We shouldn’t expect Biden to immediately fix the appellant process at the World Trade Organization, for example. Nor should we expect him to offer a new-new-NAFTA with better terms for Canadian dairy producers, or try and jump into the Pacific Rim trade bloc, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership.

While he has expressed an openness to multilateral trade, it won’t be his top priority. Some reports suggest he won’t have a trade team in place until three or four months after he takes office in January.

Trade deals usually take years to negotiate and a few more to put in place.

Despite losing the election, Trump was supported by millions of Americans who endorsed his destructive actions by casting a vote for him.

It’s still a realistic possibility that the world is again dealing with an unreliable southern trading partner four years from now.

No matter who the president is, American trade policy will still feature protectionism and still be aggressive.

That doesn’t disappear with Trump.

Biden, like Trump and Barack Obama before him, will aggressively use his power as the leader of the world’s largest economy to get the best possible outcomes for his country.

The incoming president will likely offer a bit more predictability, however.

He won’t disrupt world markets by a tweet, and is far more likely to approach the job with more decency than his predecessor. The rhetoric on wanting to keep international markets open is also a positive sign.

For that, he is a welcomed addition to the White House, but nobody should expect a drastic change in trade policy.

The post Opinion: Keep expectations low for Biden appeared first on Farmtario.

In the 2016 U.S. election, it became clear early on that producers saw the eventual winner, President Donald Trump, as the favoured candidate.

His nationalist rhetoric helped win farmers over, playing a significant role in some of the swing states, like Iowa.

A candidate aiming to balance foreign trade in the American workers’ favour was appealing.

Farmers frustrated by shrinking incomes found faith in Trump when he spoke in their communities about loosening red tape and pledging to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard, which ensures biofuels are added to the fuel supply and helps prop up corn farmers, despite Trumps’ undermining of the standard during his first term.

Plus, thousands of American farmers are traditionally Republican.

This year producers could end up playing a key role in the upcoming presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Indiana are being considered swing states — each also rank among the country’s top-10 agricultural producing states.

Trump’s bad faith negotiating tactics sparked trade wars, resulting in producers getting lower prices. His flip-flopping on forcing the use of biofuels hurt farmers, too.

Yet, farmers will still vote for Trump.

Ad hoc payments since 2018 under Trump have distorted the market, and in the past two years, the United States has exceeded its World Trade Organization limits of domestic support for agriculture. Trade wars and the COVID-19 were used to justify the spending.

Without that support, U.S. farm income would drop significantly.

Already some Democrats are alleging Trump is using payouts and subsidies to farmers as a way of buying votes in swing states ahead of the upcoming election.

There is at least some evidence to suggest they are right.

Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue was found by a federal watchdog to have improperly used help for farmers as a bid for the president’s re-election during an event in North Carolina.

No matter who they vote for, farmers shouldn’t expect the ad hoc support to dry up immediately.

The use of payments to farmers is becoming entrenched in American agriculture under Trump, and likely won’t disappear if he loses, particularly in the immediate aftermath.

If elected, president-elect Joe Biden will have bigger priorities than angering farmers by effectively lowering their incomes. If he does win, it would be partially on the backs of states like Iowa, where the payments are welcomed.

Politically, it doesn’t make sense to end the payments.

Beyond that, the inability of the World Trade Organization to enforce international trade laws means the U.S. can violate its international commitments without facing recourse.

None of this is good for Canadian producers, who continue to do their best in a chaotic and distorted global trading market.

Doing so successfully is near-impossible when their biggest competitor is shielded from a free market. Simply put, U.S. farmers don’t have to worry as much about how many acres they will plant, or what price they receive for commodities, because they know support from government is there.

That distorts markets, and will likely lead to lower prices — and in turn, less income — for Canadian farmers.

Farmers in Canada may be rooting for one candidate over another as they watch the circus of another American election, but they shouldn’t expect whoever wins to make life easier for them.

The post Opinion: U.S. election winner unlikely to be friendly to Canadian farmers appeared first on Farmtario.

Each of the five regions of the AWC includes two directors and three regional representatives, serving a maximum of two consecutive terms of three years. The directors are sitting members of the board of directors, and the representatives participate on committees that provide recommendations to the board.

Among those acclaimed was Gary Stanford of Magrath who is now a regional representative for Region 1. Stanford, who had been a director for the region, has been serving as the AWC’s board chair. He will remain chair until the AWC’s annual general meeting at the end of January, when the new terms begin.

The AWC indicated the board will appoint a farmer from Region 1 to fill the director vacancy left by Stanford.

Also in the region, director Jason Saunders of Taber was returned for a second three-year term.

In Region 5, Greg Sears of Sexsmith and David Bartlett of Fairview will succeed Warren Sekulic of Rycroft and Cole Siegle of Clyde as directors. Bartlett had been a regional director and together with Sears.

Christi Friesen of Brownvale joins the board as a rep for Region 5.

The commission will host a series of meetings, called ‘Next Level Farming’ from Nov. 12 to 28.

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Town halls are scheduled at local arenas, gymnasiums or university campuses in communities across the country. Notices are put out. Anyone can come. It’s first come, first served.

People can ask anything they want.

Based on the town halls recently in Kamloops and Regina, the questions are definitely not vetted.

Many people opt for questions about specific policy areas like tuition fees for international students, pipelines, Indigenous rights, immigration, the state of the economy and health care.

Others simply want to know a bit more about the man behind the title. One child, for instance, asked Trudeau in Regina what his favourite toy was growing up.

The answer: Stretch Armstrong, a large, gel-filled action figure that apparently doesn’t mix well with radiators.

There’s one question, though, that has stuck with me in the days following these most recent town halls.

It was asked by a man in Kamloops at the first town hall the prime minister did this year.

He wanted to know whether Trudeau ever “laughed like an ordinary man?”

The question appeared to catch the prime minister off-guard.

Yes, he said, he laughs just like others do.

On the surface, it might seem like a simple question – silly even, though there is no such thing as a silly question.

But, dig a little deeper and one will find it carries a few important insights.

For one thing, it confirms what people in the Ottawa bubble sometimes forget: for the majority of Canadians, the prime minister is a being who lives in the nation’s capital.

He or she is a person who is seen on TV. They are an other – a celebrity-type figure even – who is very much removed from the day-to-day lives of most Canadians.

They are not an “ordinary” person – despite how relatable they try to make themselves and regardless of the demands from voters that they be ordinary.

This perception is an important reminder to those of us who interact with powerful people, like prime ministers or presidents, on a regular basis.

It’s a reminder I have been fortunate to receive more than once in my career: once when a family member asked me whether we could go some place where they would see the prime minister.

It happened again when the prime minister stopped by a friend of mine’s work place. She talked about his visit for days.

You see, even bureaucrats in Ottawa don’t often get to engage with those who work in the inner sanctum of Parliament Hill.

For politicians, recognizing that not everyone sees them like an average Joe is important, too – especially in an election year.

Politicians trying to connect with those outside of the Ottawa-bubble is a trend that goes into overtime during an election year.

Over the course of the next few months, politicians of all stripes will spend countless hours trying to make themselves more relatable to everyday Canadians.

There will be photo-ops at Tim Hortons. Some might try and show they’re the person who people will want to “grab a beer with.”

Dances will be had. Jokes will be cracked. Conversations at kitchen tables will be documented.

Babies will be kissed. Seniors homes will be visited. There will be more lobster-boils, pancake breakfasts and spaghetti dinners than one can shake a stick at.

For those who want to lead, wannabe presidents or prime ministers will often write a book, allowing readers to learn about their childhood tales and family misadventures.

Cynics will disregard these events as photo-ops where the only take away is who gets the best, or in some cases, the worst photo for social media.

Others argue they allow politicians and others in attendance to show their human side and remind people that politicians are people, too.

They juggle families and work responsibilities. They have good days and bad days. Restful nights and sleepless nights.

They cry and they laugh.

They are in fact, ordinary people who are simply leading extraordinary lives.

The post Opinion: Beyond the bubble of Ottawa appeared first on Farmtario.

Trump has imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods to pressure Beijing to stop intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers, improve market access for U.S. firms and cut its high-tech industrial subsidy program — major shifts away from China’s state-led economic model.

Why it matters: Recent elections in the U.S. have solidified rather than weakened Trump’s stance on key trade issues, disproving any notion that his leadership is out of sync with American sentiments.

Democrats, the traditional party of trade unions, largely support such moves, especially for their hoped-for effect on helping American workers.

“I think Trump has a free hand to pursue his aggressive approach. If anything, the Blue Wave (of Democrats) will be as hawkish, if not more hawkish, than Trump on China,” Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said.

Beijing has retaliated by largely cutting off purchases of U.S. soybeans and imposing its own tariffs on farm products. China was the biggest buyer of U.S. soybeans before the trade war.

But the tariffs were at best a minor issue in most Congressional races, even in hard-hit states such as North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri, which voted in Republican senators, strengthening Trump’s hand in the chamber.

Scott Kennedy, head of China studies at the Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said there is growing bipartisan concern in Washington about increasing state control of China’s economy, military activity in the South China Sea and security issues surrounding Chinese technology companies.

“President Trump has paid no political price for taking a tough line on China,” he said. “I still see the short term-political and long-term strategic signals on China still pointing in the same direction.”

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has applauded Trump’s initial round of tariffs on China as a “leverage point” to negotiate fairer trade for U.S. products in the country.

Those Democrats who may be upset that Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods and steel and aluminum will raise business costs and prices also face a practical problem in that they have little legislative means to stop them, since they are the result of executive orders, which do not need Congressional approval.

Representative Richard Neal, the expected new Democratic chair of the tax-and-trade focused House Ways and Means Committee, sees China as a “big challenge” that both parties and multiple administrations have tried to tackle, a Democratic aide to the panel told Reuters.

China too appears to have few illusions that the election results will earn it a reprieve from the Trump administration.

“Particularly on trade, both (U.S.) parties agree. So, it will have little impact,” said Wu Baiyi, the director of the Institute of American Studies at the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Canada, Mexico a
different story

The bipartisan unity is less secure when it comes to trade talks with allies, however, and the new Democrat majority could make it more difficult to win congressional approval for a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Neal and Representative Bill Pascrell, who is set to chair the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, are promising to haul Trump’s top trade lieutenants into hearings not only to explain their strategy on China but also on future trade negotiations with the European Union, Japan and Britain.

The recent deal to change the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement is expected to be submitted to Congress for approval in the spring of 2019.

If Democrats hold out for changes, it may force a reopening of negotiations, analysts and lobbyists said. Democrats forced a similar rethink of the first version of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2007 that took nearly three years to complete.

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