It aligns the organization, which speaks for more than 3,000
farmer-members, with marketing boards that have changed their names, such as
Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Egg Farmers of Ontario and Chicken Farmers of
Ontario.
Also at the recent annual meeting at Alliston, the
association gave the Outstanding Shepherd of the Year award to Sandi Brock of
Shepherd Creek Farm at Staffa.
She and her husband, Mark, who has been chairman of Grain
Farmers of Ontario, and their children, Jack and Jessica, manage a flock of 500
ewes.
The Wand Family Livestock farm at Parry Sound won the
Ontario Sheep Pasture Award.
Their 650-breeding-ewes flock is managed by Klaus, Ursula and
Marcus Wand.
Also at the annual meeting, chairman Rob Scott and general
manager Jennifer MacTavish introduced the EweGrow program designed to improve
availability and quality of Ontario Lamb.
The benchmarks outlined in the program were developed with
the help of Value Chain Management
International which undertook consultations with industry stakeholders.
The general aim of value-chain management is to align the
interests of producers, processors and retailers so they all improve the
quality and profitability of what they’re offering.
