This summer the government opened their Red Tape Challenge to regulations governing the Food Processing Industry. The CFFO’s comments focused on the importance of our current marketing regulations for both supply management and marketing boards in Ontario. The CFFO supports the marketing board model of negotiating prices between producers and processors, which ensures fair consideration of the needs of both parties, and creates a stable business environment for farm and processing businesses to invest based on predictable pricing. Supply management ensures farmers are receiving a fair price for the product they produce, and that there is a stable supply for processors and consumers.
The CFFO saw room for some improvement in land use protections on farmland, and in meat processing regulations. CFFO argued for greater protections on farmland, which is a limited resource, through land use planning policy. These protections are vital to ensuring the long-term prosperity of farming in Ontario.
While CFFO recognizes that the meat regulations have been effective in ensuring food safety and proper treatment of animals, there needs to be flexibility to allow for different sized abattoirs. The CFFO encourages the government to consider what would be required to allow mobile abattoir units to serve remote areas, or other regions where a mobile abattoir would best serve the needs of the locale.
Northern Ontario Agriculture, Aquaculture and Food Processing Sector Strategy