FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
GREENS TO END ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL REGULATIONS THAT PUNISH LOCAL BUSINESSES
DUNEDIN, ONTARIO – Today, Green Party of Ontario (GPO) Leader Mike Schreiner joined Neil Metheral, owner of Dunedin’s Metheral Meats, to announce the Green Party’s plan to end the one-size-fits-all regulations that punish local businesses and limits access to local food.
“Local food processors are an essential part of building strong local economies with good local jobs,” said Schreiner. “We must create a level playing field for local food processors and family farms by introducing regulations that recognize the differences in the size and scope of operations.”
The decline of local processing facilities in Ontario makes it difficult for farmers to access higher value markets and to brand local products. The loss of local processors also restricts consumer choice and access to healthy local food.
Over the last decade, governments have written regulations to address health and safety concerns at large operations without consideration of the unique needs of small and medium sized processors. The number of small and medium sized abbatoirs, like Metheral’s, in Ontario has declined by approximately 70% in the last
decade.
“The cost of regulations imposed on processers will most affect the profit for the farmer and the price for the consumer,” said Metheral “With better support we could hire a student to oversee HACCP to assess our quality at a decent wage. In most small plants we can’t keep up with these costs.”
The Metheral’s small Dunedin processing plant was founded in 1991. It is an essential part of the family’s farm – in operation for 8 generations – and the local economy.
As part of the Ontario Food and Farming Strategy, the Green Party will work with the food and agricultural sector, as well as other levels of government, to develop regulations, by-laws and zoning laws appropriate for family farms and farm-based businesses.
“We have to reverse the closure of local food processing facilities since they are essential to building a local sustainable food system,” said Schreiner “We need smart regulations to promote food safety while putting local processors on a level playing field.
According to a 2010 survey conducted by Farmers Feed Cities, an overwhelming 99% of Ontarians agree that farming is important to Ontario’s well-being. It’s time to ensure that local farmers are supported so that all Ontarian’s have access to healthy food grown close to home.
GREEN MPPS WILL:
· End one-size-fits-all regulations for family farms and local food processors
· Implement smart regulations that recognize differences in the size of operations.
· Eliminate tax penalties and reduce zoning restrictions to facilitate local, on-farm food enterprises and innovative sources of farm income.
· Improve income stabilization programs so they are more accessible for family farms, cover a wider range of products and don’t penalize farmers who experience bad years.
For more information on the Green Party’s 5 Point Plan visit: Silo Direct Link To Green Party’s 5 Point Plan
Rebecca Harrison
Director of Communications
Green Party of Ontario
905 999 5479
rebeccaharrison@gpo.ca
http://Silo Direct Link to Green Party of Ontario’s Press Site
Sent from Green Party of Ontario
PO Box 1132
Toronto, ON M4Y 2T8
Canada
Links:
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[1] http://www.gpo.ca/
Farmers should be deciding that which impacts them
Agriculture and agri-food continue to face a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous challenge – the world’s population has exploded to seven billion. When my family started farming in Norfolk in 1796, it was one billion. Supporting a global population requires a tremendous acceleration of knowledge and technology to produce more food, feed, fibre and fuel, while trying to use less energy, water, chemical and acreage.
A study by management consultants McKinsey and Company, anticipates by 2025, the world’s emerging economies will develop middle classes with the ability to spend $30 trillion annually in global markets – markets for the kind of things we grow, feed, mine and manufacture. McKinsey and Company call this “the biggest growth opportunity in the history of capitalism.”
Like much of the world, farmers are early adapters of technology – something that has been documented over the 10,000 year history of agriculture.
In contrast to days gone by, intensive agriculture, precision farming, biotech-enhanced production, mechanization, automation, robotics and drones continue to play a much larger role in today’s agri-business.
For the sake of Ontario’s agri-food future, we must up our game. We need people who have a background in science, mechanics and computers as well as animal
husbandry and crop production. Those involved know that farming and the food business can be a tough way to make a living. Farming and finding a market is always difficult. We need to ensure confidence that farming has the potential for a rewarding and prosperous career.
Production advances are many, but it still takes a seed to grow a plant and feed to raise livestock. Beyond that, we need policy for bold, confident action to capitalize on any projected boom and enhanced trade in farm commodities.
Those of us living out in the country need to be assured that we are not forgotten, or being taken for granted. We have issues – supply management, trade, broadband, natural gas, soil erosion, school closings, health care, farm prices, minimum wage, debt and taxes- the list goes on.
The best part of my job is being out on the back roads, visiting and listening to what people have to say in rural, small-town Ontario. My last degree at Guelph was in agriculture extension and I find those principles valuable to relay ideas and concerns and solutions back and forth to Queens Park.
I’ve also been attending farm meetings for as long as I can remember – with my father, my grandfather. Our farms, as T.B. Barrett and Son, signed up for the Federation of Agriculture in the 1950’s and had joined the Norfolk Co-op in 1918.
In my view, the backbone of our rich agri-business and country culture in Haldimand-Norfolk and across Ontario is our plethora of farm commodity and rural, small town organizations.
There are 2.2 million people who work directly and indirectly in agri-food. They are major players in Ontario’s rural and small town economy, as well as that of the entire province. These farmers and experts in production should play a key role in making the decisions that impact them the most.
We can be the breadbasket for the globe, and support the comeback of our farm and rural areas. But to do this, we must get our economic and political fundamentals in order. Developing our agricultural and natural resources need not be an afterthought.
Toby Barrett -MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk