Ontario general farm organizations

In Ontario, farmers have to pay an annual fee to join one of four general farm organizations.

Once they have joined one of the four, they may file for a rebate of the fee, but few do.

The Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal is responsible for deciding whether a general farm organization qualifies to receive membership fees through this legislation, and the tribunal conducts periodic reviews for re-accreditation.

In June, now almost six months ago, the tribunal held public hearings as it reviewed the qualifications of three general farm organizations to continue under the program - the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Branch of the National Farmers Union (NFU).

When the previous head of the Ontario NFU wrote to the tribunal with evidence of misleading testimony during the re-accreditation hearing, the tribunal re-opened its public hearings for that organization and then heard that not one, but several, former directors had resigned over the way the national organization in Saskatoon was dominating policy and finances in Ontario.

So here we are, six months later, and tribunal hasn't issued a decision about re-accrediting any of the three general farm organizations. Nor has it said what's delaying a decision.

Maybe it's the tribunal that should be up for re-accreditation.