Agricultural societies to benefit from new grant rules

The regulation outlines the new membership levels that agricultural or horticultural societies in Ontario must maintain to receive various provincial operating grants Agricultural societies in Ontario will be finding it easier to access much-welcomed grant funds moving forward.

Amendments to Regulation 16 within the Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act, took effect on Jan. 1. That regulation outlines the new membership levels that agricultural or horticultural societies in Ontario must maintain to receive various provincial operating grants, making it easier to qualify for them.

According to the province, the regulation is amended to reduce the minimum member thresholds required by Agricultural and Horticultural Societies so that they can qualify for an annual grant due to membership numbers not returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, (OMAFRA) provides an annual grant of up to $5,000 to qualifying agricultural societies and up to $1,500 to horticultural societies. Due to the pandemic, a number of these societies do not have the minimum number of members necessary to qualify for the annual grant.

For agricultural societies, the minimum threshold is now reduced from 60 to 40 members. For horticultural societies, the threshold has decreased from 50 to 25 members, except in territorial districts, where it is reduced from 25 to 15.

Since the change, Janet Harrop, president of the Wellington Federation of Agriculture, says she has seen a rise in membership numbers.