Saturday, August 12, 2017

Veg board will be fully elected again

Regulations put into place Friday will return elections for all eight directors of the Ontario Processing Vegetables Marketing Board.

Four will be appointed next year and four will be elected by growers and in 2018, all eight will be elected.

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission will continue to appoint the chairman for a two-year term which can be renewed, but with a cap of 10 years.

Growers will be eligible for election to the board without having to first gain election as a committee member, as was the case with the old regulations.

There will be a cap of three consecutive two-year terms, down from four terms in the old regulations. After a two-year break, they will again be eligible for election. There will be a cap of 12 years.

Half of the directors will be elected each year, providing for stability and experience on the board.

There will be four directors for District One and two each for District Two and Three.

The commission took over the board earlier this year, appointed Elmer Buchanan chairman and he negotiated contracts with processors who had complained bitterly that they were unable to compete in the North American market under the terms of bargaining with the old board.


The old board, with broad support from the Ontario farming community, protested the takeover.