CFFO Acclaims President, Welcomes New Board Members

Provincial delegates of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario met via videoconference on March 29, 2022, for CFFO’s Annual Meeting.

Sitting president Ed Scharringa was acclaimed for his third one-year term. Scharringa has served on the CFFO Board of Directors since 2009. He also currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Agricultural Adaptation Council.

“I feel privileged to serve CFFO for another year,” says Scharringa. “Together, our Board has tackled many challenges throughout these pandemic years, and we are dedicated to serving our members and the wider agricultural community through collaboration, policy development and advocacy.”

Having worked in vegetable and flower wholesale and farm market retail for many years, Scharringa brings a broad range of expertise to the CFFO Board, particularly in farm labour and trade issues.

The CFFO is also pleased to announce that John Bos has been acclaimed as Vice-President. Bos, who farms dairy and pork near Cambridge, is new to the role, having served as Director since 2016. Also acclaimed was returning Director Simon de Boer, whose family dairy farm is in Tara.

The CFFO also warmly welcomed two new members to the Board of Directors this year, through acclamation. Ian Greydanus farms with his family in Grafton, where they run a cash cropping business and grain elevator enterprise. He also currently serves as Vice-President of the East Central Christian Farmers Association. Henk Vaarkamp is a dairy farmer from Hagersville. He has been active in his county for many years, having served on the Haldimand-Norfolk District Christian Farmers Association, the Haldimand Dairy Producer Committee and the Haldimand Agriculture Awareness Committee.

Retiring from the Board are Richard Blyleven of Cayuga and Peter Peeters of Omemee. The Board of Directors extends heartfelt thanks for their many years of service and dedication to the CFFO.