The
Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has reserved the John D. Bradley
Convention Centre in Chatham-Kent for consultations on its proposal to remove
bargaining powers from the Ontario Vegetables for Processing Marketing Board.
Agriculture
Minister Jeff Leal stepped in to promise the consultations after former commission
chairman Geri Kamenz announced the proposal last year and triggered a
groundswell of criticism from farmers.
The
current chairman, Jim Clarke, has posted an invitation to the consultations on
the commission’s website. One problem: it's this Thursday. Nothing like advance notice, eh?
“As part
of the first stage of our plan, I would like to invite you to an open and
interactive consultation session to discuss:
opportunities for
collaboration between Ontario's processing vegetable producers and processors;
how we can work together to
improve relationships in the processing vegetable industry;
the potential of a pilot
project that would feature some direct contracting capabilities for the 2017
tomato crop.
