The Ontario Apple Growers has asked for changes to expand who can be elected to its board and to merge advisory committees for apples and juices.
The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has posted notice of the intended changes on the Ontario government’s regulatory notice website.
The changes are:
o the definition of a producer that removes the current requirement for a producer to be a beneficial owner of property on which apple trees are growing;
o permit producers to designate individuals to vote or be elected or appointed as a board member on their behalf;
o introduce a limit to the number of years a producer could serve as a member of the board before having a break in service; and
o remove the term limits for chairs of the board.
o replace the Fresh Apple Advisory Committee and the Juice Apple Advisory Committee with one Apple Advisory committee that would cover fresh, juice and processing apples;
o remove the requirement that the advisory committee meet annually; and
o include provisions for replacing a committee member unable to act in their role.
The commission said that if the changes are approved it would expand the eligibility of who could be a member of the Ontario Apple Growers and in turn, potentially bring in new perspectives around the board table on how the apple sector grows and evolves moving forward.
