By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Ontario’s general farm organizations – jumping through bureaucratic hoops to meet the guidelines required for recognition with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). In an effort to help encourage farmers to complete the extra paper work required for general farm organizations such as Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) to be recognized in the future as determined by the recent rulings of the OMAFRA Tribunal – OFA has launched the ‘Drive Forward’ program.The program explains the new OFA membership process for 2013 and outlines a two-step process about how to become a recognized member within the organization. Once members are confirmed they will be entered for a chance to win some prizes. What’s new about the 2013 membership process is that farmers will not only have to choose OFA as the accredited farm organization of choice on the Farm Business Registration (FBR) form – along with their $195 fee, but also sign a membership agreement after completion of their FRB form. More information can be found on the OFA website.