A former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is taking the helm of Canada’s largest general farmers’ organization.

Keith Currie of Collingwood, Ont. was acclaimed as the new president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture this week during the CFA’s annual general meeting in Ottawa.

As CFA president, Currie replaces Mary Robinson of Albany, P.E.I., who had led the organization since 2019 and decided to step down from the post this year, the OFA said in a release Tuesday.

Currie, who served as OFA president from 2016 to 2020 and as CFA first vice-president since 2019, said he “look(s) forward to working with our members and stakeholders to advance the interests of Canada’s agriculture sector.”

The OFA on Tuesday hailed Currie, a hay and sweet corn producer, as a long-time advocate for the agriculture industry at both the provincial and federal levels.

“Keith has a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight when it comes to Canadian agricultural production and will be a valuable leader for our industry, OFA president Peggy Brekveld said Tuesday. “We are privileged to have an Ontario representative in this role and I have no doubt that he will continue to be a strong voice for farmers across the country.”

Currie is expected to lead the CFA in “advocating for policies and programs that support Canadian farmers and promote sustainable and profitable agriculture” and work to strengthen the CFA’s relationships with government officials and other stakeholders, OFA said.

Currie is joined on the CFA’s new executive roster by Todd Lewis as first vice-president and Pierre Lampron as second vice-president.

Lewis, who farms at Gray, Sask., just south of Regina, previously served from 2016 to 2022 as president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS).

Lampron, a dairy farmer in Quebec’s Mauricie region, has been president of Dairy Farmers of Canada since 2017 and replaces Lewis as CFA’s second VP. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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During his tenure as an OFA board member and president, Currie said he made it a personal mission to bring the agricultural lens to every committee, political and board table to which he’s spoken. 

“You have to be prepared to have your mind changed and look at the bigger picture,” he said, adding that can be a challenge in the agriculture sector where passion can cloud issues. 

Why it matters: The retirement of three OFA board members means loss of much experience but it will provide fresh ideas to the board of directors.

For Currie, the bigger picture included partnering with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Ontario Tourism, two organizations not generally viewed as agricultural but hold a lot of sway in rural communities.

All three retiring board members — Currie, Brent Royce and Rejean Pommainville — said member involvement is essential, whether on the county or provincial level, because it provides an opportunity to influence the industry. 

Currie said he’s confident his acclaimed successor, Pierre Paul Maurice, will bring a unique set of skills to the board table, including his bilingualism.

Of the OFA’s five provincial zone director elections, three were acclaimed including Maurice, Tracey Arts in Zone 4 (Oxford Elgin) and Mark Reusser for Zone 9 (Dufferin, Waterloo, Wellington.)

Julie Danen, Erica Murray and Ethan Wallace are campaigning to replace Royce in Zone 7 (Huron Perth), and M. Eleanor McGrath and Vanessa Renaud are vying for Pommainville’s Zone 14 (Stormont, Glengarry, Prescott and Russell). Voting for the two board positions opened Aug. 16 and will close Sept. 10.  

Videos of the candidates can be found on the OFA website under Zone Election.

Royce said board activities flowed well through the pandemic, providing newer members with an excellent example of an effective board.

“Getting on the provincial board is a steep learning curve to start with, but you throw in going completely virtual and trying to figure it all out,” he said. “That made everything amplified.”

Currie was instrumental in pushing the needs of the agriculture sector to the forefront, including the need for vaccine access by essential workers and financial support from the provincial and federal governments, said Royce and Pommainville. 

 “The hours he put in when COVID first started is unbelievable. And the work he did guiding the organization and agriculture through all that was – you just don’t know,” said Royce. “It was a hell of a commitment.”

Currie lost the election for president of the OFA at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this year. Long-time vice-president Peggy Brekveld was elected president.

Currie said he is proud of many accomplishments during his time on the board. However, getting Ontario agriculture’s food supply chain recognized for its critical role during COVID and as a part of the post-pandemic economic recovery ranks high. 

Another is the implementation of farm-based trespassing legislation to protect farmers and livestock. 

“If you were to go back and look at all the announcements that happened last year, there was a heck of a lot,” Currie said. “And I’m pretty proud of what we delivered for a response during that time.”

He declined offers to run at the local and provincial government level, saying he preferred to focus on his role as first vice-president with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture following his departure from the OFA board. 

But there is one government appointment that could entice him.  

“A couple of Senate openings are coming up,” Currie said. “Would that be worthy of an application? It’s something I might pursue.”

Royce said board cohesion during the pandemic made him more confident about leaving the table and he is gratified that three qualified people are interested in filling his position. 

 “At some point (agriculture) is everybody’s future. At some point, it’s everybody’s present and eventually it will be my past, as a farmer in agriculture,” he said. “The ones that it’s their future are the ones that have the most to gain, and agriculture has the most to gain from.”

Royce said he is particularly proud of the Stray Voltage portfolio and strides in opening the lines of communication with Hydro One. 

“It’s still not perfect, and it’s not finished yet,” he said. “But it is leaps and bounds ahead to where it was 10 years ago.”

Pommainville is credited with promoting bilingualism within the organization and securing a grant to translate several OFA fact sheets into French. He encouraged Francophone members to volunteer on local and provincial boards.

“I’ve met a lot of people that I would have never had the possibility to meet. That’s on a personal scale. But I’ve seen a lot of production.

“I’ve seen all kinds of manufacturing, the transformation of food products, visited a lot of farm operations, and it was great.”

He encouraged people to attend a local meeting and volunteer a few hours a month or a few days a year.

“We all have qualities and expertise in different fields,” Pommainville said. “There is a lot of knowledge and experience around the table at the OFA, even with members with a lot of years leaving.”

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Why it matters: Currently, the supply of fertilizer, chemicals, seed, and other inputs remain unaffected by the spread COVID-19 and subsequent mitigation efforts.

Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says provincial farm representatives are involved in calls with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and other farm leaders three times each week to discuss potential issues and solutions relevant to Canada’s agricultural community.

Currently, no major issues regarding the supply of production inputs have been voiced.

“There was some nervousness around the [rail] blockades, but my understanding is that has been resolved,” says Currie. He adds most input-related business dealings don’t fundamentally require close personal interaction, which itself helps facilitate business-as-usual.

“From what I’m understanding your talking about minimum impact in terms of person-to-person contact, so I’m really not hearing any issues there.”

Barry Senft, chief executive officer for Grain Farmers of Ontario, says his organization has also been in regular communication with AAFC, OMAFRA, and Ontario’s other producer organizations to discuss “what if” scenarios.

Thus far, GFO has not been made aware of any input supply issues. However, Senft says they have been receiving reports some retailers are asking farmers to take possession of ordered products sooner rather than later.

He adds the fundamental issue – apart from health concerns – is whether crops will make it in the ground. Complications, such as a weather-delayed season where seed needs to be swapped for shorter-season varieties, could prove challenging.

“Get into position as much of their inputs as they can […] Things don’t change daily, they change hourly,” Senft says.  “Anything we can do to lessen risk, farmers should think about.”

Greg Hannam, co-owner of Woodrill Farms Ltd., a Guelph-area crop input supply company and grain elevator, also says he and his colleagues have not encountered any supply issues.

“Things are still early, but I have not heard anything in terms of people not getting supplied,” he says.

“We’re building contingency plans […] but otherwise its just business as usual.”

Wayne Black, sales manager, agronomy, with Sunderland Co-operative, says that farmers should call before they come to their location, to make sure the products they need are there.

“You need to call ahead and book your time. You don’t want to see people standing around in a tiny office expecting service right away.”

He doesn’t expect there to be supply issues for crop inputs. Seed and crop protection products are in the country. The co-op has had calls from some farmers making sure their sprays are going to be available.

He expects crop inputs to be able to be delivered.

“We’re fortunate and privileged to be working outside. We can meet the customer outside the barn, or in their yard or in a field, and stay out of the office or the house. We can still do a lot of things we need to do.”

The fertilizer sector says that it has recovered from challenges from the recent rail blockages and supply should be sufficient to get crops planted across the country.

“Our member companies are implementing COVID-19 contingency plans at manufacturing plants, storage terminals and agri-retail outlets across the country to protect employees and the public and to ensure farmers get the fertilizer they need in time for seeding,” said Garth Whyte, president and CEO of Fertilizer Canada.

Addressing questions from employees

Hannam says the most significant COVID-related impacts have thus far has been confined to day-to-day business procedures. Examples, Hannam says, include truck drivers communicating via PA systems rather than entering buildings during load testing, more intense biosecurity training for staff, and so on.

He adds the general awareness of and familiarity with biosecurity protocols in the farm community lends itself to effectively implementing more stringent measures.

“The bigger thing is really questions from our employees about what happens if we have to shut down […] People are worried about maintaining income and managing child care,” Hannam says.

“We’ve probably spent more time talking to people about those things, the day-to-day life things.”

With files from John Greig

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Ontario Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie was recently appointed to the new committee.

“I’m pretty excited to have agriculture around the table,” said Currie in an interview. “I think agriculture is climate change’s best-kept secret.”

Carbon sequestration by agriculture doesn’t get its due, he said and he says there’s more that can be done, with the right tools.

There are other committee members with rural connections including Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) and Ducks Unlimited.

That means there will be a decent lens on rural Ontario and the committee won’t be just focused on urban issues or academia, says Currie.

The committee will likely take about a year to complete its work and it will give the government recommendations on what to implement through its environmental plan.

“I think agriculture has been ignored in the climate change conversation for a long time. This is a chance to highlight what we do.”

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Currie won a fourth one-year term as president at the OFA annual meeting Nov. 18, 2019 in Hamilton.

The Simcoe County farmer won a close election over Peggy Brekveld, who has been an OFA vice president for the past five years.

She is a dairy farmer from northern Ontario and has been a member of the OFA board of directors for eight years.

Currie won 57 per cent of votes, to Brekveld’s 43 per cent.

Before the election, both answered questions from delegates, including multiple questions on relations with Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), which once held a seat at the board of directors, but no longer does so.

Currie said that GFO has made it clear that it won’t be back as an OFA member, but he says that he continues to have regular and useful conversations with the senior leadership of GFO.

He encouraged OFA members to go back to their local Grain Farmers of Ontario organizations and to continue to encourage them to reach out to the OFA.

“We’d like nothing more than to have them part of our team” he said.

Brekveld encouraged more trust building with organizations like the GFO.

The presidential candidates were questioned about the potential of agriculture to contribute to climate change solutions.

Agriculture, along with forestry, are leaders in carbon sequestration, said Currie.

“We do have the answer, but we need to get the answer across,” he said.

Brekveld says that agriculture is part of the carbon cycle, with cattle eating plants, their waste returned to the land and carbon returning to the air where it them helps plants grow.

“There are such great opportunities for agriculture, but I don’t know that we are always recognized for it. The story sometimes gets stuck on what the cow is doing.”

Other OFA election results

Brekveld and Mark Reusser were re-elected as vice presidents of the organization in a very close vote. OFA board member Crispin Colvin of Middlesex County also stood for election as vice-president. Reusser defeated Colvin by one vote in the election.

There was an active election for the position of OFA director-at-large, with six people vying. Huron County pork and garlic producer Teresa Van Raay won the election, which took several rounds of voting before she emerged with more than 50 per cent of the vote. Other candidates included Erica Miles, Richard Pringle, David Ritchie, Sara Wood and Adrian Wynands.

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Lennon comes to the OFA from the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers, after a long career with agriculture organizations.

Why it matters: Neil Currie has with the OFA for 19 years, so the choice of his successor will have significant implications for the largest farmer organization in the province.

Lennon was raised in Perth County and began her agriculture career with the Agricultural Adaptation Council. She served as general manager of Ontario Sheep Farmers, leading the organization through upheaval and trade disputes related to the BSE crisis. She was a program manager with Agricorp and as a senior lender with Farm Credit Canada working across all agricultural sectors and commodities.

Most recently, Lennon was general manager of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers (OPVG), where she helped move the organization through repeated attempts by the Ontario Farm Products Commission to change how processing vegetable are marketing in the province.

“It’s an exciting new era for OFA as we welcome Cathy into the organization,” says Keith Currie, OFA president. “Agriculture has big opportunities and no end of challenges, and Cathy’s experience in so many facets of the agricultural sector will be a tremendous asset for the entire OFA organization.”

Lennon graduated from the University of Waterloo with a BA in political science, and is a Class 9 Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) grad. Over the last two decades, her professional career has centred around working for farmers to make a positive difference in their lives and their farm businesses. She and her daughter live in Rockwood, Ont.

“OFA is grateful to the long-term leadership of retiring general manager Neil Currie,” says Keith Currie. “He had led our organization through 19 years with significant changes and challenges, and he leaves OFA with a strong team in place for Cathy to step into.”

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Mary Robinson, past-president of the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture, was elected president Wednesday at the CFA’s AGM in Ottawa. She replaces Ron Bonnett, the organization’s president since 2010.

Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, was elected as first vice-president; Chris van den Heuvel, former president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, was elected second vice-president.

“I am looking forward to engaging key stakeholder and political decision makers on why the agri-food sector is the leading economic engine of Canada,” said Robinson, who has also previously chaired the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council.

“It’s critical that investments in agriculture is a priority for the Canadian government. Investments in rural Canada and agriculture benefit not only rural Canada but the nation as a whole.”

The CFA, in a release Thursday, described Robinson as “a force in farm politics for many years and an exceptional leader whose collaboration skills are highly recognized amongst the agricultural stakeholder community.”

Robinson is a member of P.E.I.’s Robinson family and a partner in the Eric C. Robinson Inc. group of farm businesses.

A certified crop advisor, she manages Island Lime, a Robinson operation providing lime, gypsum, custom lime and fertilizer application and other farm services.

Robinson, who also currently sits on the board of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, received the P.E.I. Women’s Institute’s Women in Agriculture award in 2017.

As first and second vice-presidents, Currie and van den Heuvel respectively replace Norm Hall, former president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, and Marcel Groleau, president of Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The OFA talked about how it is framing its election strategy at its annual meeting, which ran Monday and Tuesday in Toronto.

“With the election coming up, we need to talk about the benefits we have to offer all Ontarians beyond the food on their tables,” OFA president Keith Currie said.

Rural issues don’t resonate with urban voters who are “food comfortable” and more worried about traffic congestion, housing prices and their jobs than about food.

As a result, the OFA is making the case that rural areas and farms can help them out. There are some rural areas with an out-migration of population leaving behind less expensive housing and employers starved for workers.

But in order to build stronger rural communities, the OFA argues government investment is needed in the rural infrastructure that benefits both farmers and non-farmers. Urban residents take infrastructure for granted that rural residents can’t access, including natural gas for heating and broadband internet.

Top of the rural infrastructure list for the OFA is bringing natural gas to more areas of the province. That would mean cheaper home heating for farmers and non-farm residents and more economical power for factories and farms.

They are calling the strategy “distributed economic development” — the idea that economic development in one region will benefit the whole province, including people who live in cities.

Dr. David Freshwater, a professor at University of Kentucky who grew up in the Niagara Peninsula, supported the OFA message on economic development in his talk at the OFA convention.

With farmers such a tiny proportion of the population, and most economic policy being determined in the cities, he said that for urban residents, there needs to be a message to the cities that shows the value of rural economic policy to them.

“You need to create a positive message of rural opportunity,” he said.

That’s why the OFA message focuses on investments, not bailouts, and communities instead of commodities.

Currie spoke little about risk management, or farm income, or farm production practices when discussing provincial election messaging, although OFA works on all of those policy items.

“We need something different. Something bold. Something that will survive the test of time. What message can we bring to urban voters that will resonate with them?” he said.

The OFA has polled urban residents to see what they’re concerns are about living in rural areas. Their largest issues include concerns about access to good jobs and health care, along with a perception that rural schools offer inferior education.

Currie was quick to point out that the OFA isn’t advocating for unchecked growth of rural communities, as many of them already have areas available for development, or redevelopment.

“A fundamental condition and prerequisite is that farmland is protected even better than it is. Urban communities must respect our boundaries.”

The positive message about rural and agriculture and driving economic growth is easier to create with Canadian agriculture being pegged as a potential leader in creating economic growth across the country by the Barton Report — a federal government report by an expert panel that is guiding federal economic policy.

With the production of more than 200 commodities, a quarter of Canada’s farmers and $1.4 billion in farm gate output each year, agriculture in Ontario can be an economic powerhouse, Currie said.

“When we hear Mr. Barton speak of limitless potential, we need to take a much bigger approach.”

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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Currie emphasized the need for unity in the agriculture industry during his remarks before the vote.

It’s more important than ever for the agriculture industry to work together, he said, pointing to the ability of social media and other platforms that allow easy spread of anti-agriculture messages.

For example, there was friction between Grain Farmers of Ontario, the province’s largest commodity organization, and OFA due to disagreements on how to engage with the province on restrictions on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides.

“I worry that agriculture has built its own walls,” he said.

Currie runs a cash crop, sweet corn and forage operation near Collingwood, about 50 km west of Barrie, on an eighth-generation family farm. He was an OFA vice-president this past year. OFA presidents serve one-year terms, but often stand for re-election.

McCabe was running for his third term as president. The crop farmer from Inwood, about 50 km southeast of Sarnia, has worked hard to build government connections for farmers.

Provincial Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray told the OFA annual meeting that McCabe has become one of the best-known voices on policy at Queen’s Park.

McCabe argued that he needed a third year as president in order for “all the pieces to come together”, including the upcoming federal-provincial policy framework.

Currie said in an interview he’s spent his adult life advocating for agriculture and taking on the OFA presidency was the next step.

“I’m a strong believer in what the OFA is and what it stands for and I was starting to see some fracturing in the agriculture community and I wanted to fix it,” he says. I want to lead the charge to bring the agriculture community back together.”

Currie pointed out that the industry in Ontario is huge, the largest industry, with more than 220 commodities produced.

“If we are collectively together, that ‘1.4 per cent of the population’ figure will be irrelevant because we will be too strong to stop. I want to head down that road as soon as we can.”

Current vice-president Peggy Brekveld was re-elected as vice-president, as was current board member Mark Reusser. A spot opened up when Currie was elected president and Brekveld, Reusser and Debra Pretty-Straathof all ran for the position.

Brekveld is a dairy farmer from Murillo, in northern Ontario; Reusser is a turkey farmer from Waterloo County.

A resolution from Wellington County to change how the president and vice-presidents are elected was defeated at the annual meeting. It sought to make the selection of president and vice-presidents the responsibility of the board of directors. They are currently elected by the about 300 delegates at the annual meeting.

There was concern from some delegates, such as Bev Hill from Huron County, that taking away the election of president and vice-president from the annual meeting would take power away from the grassroots of the organization.

“Not being able to participate reduces my motivation to come to this convention,” he said. “If I can’t participate in selection of leadership why would I come?”

Others, such as Sharon Weitzel from Perth County argue that most farm organizations have moved away from the direct election of president and vice-president and “it has been very successful for them.”

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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