By Peggy Brekveld, Vice President, OFA
To The Haldimand Press
Behind every agricultural policy decision, there are real people affected. Real farmers. Near the end of 2019, the provincial government announced critical changes to how processing tomatoes and carrots are marketed in Ontario. The announcement has significant ramifications for growers and processors in the province, but it seems that processors have been given the upper hand in the new contract negotiation process.
On December 11, 2019, Minister Hardeman outlined changes to the processing vegetable system. In amending Regulation 440, Hardeman states that they have “created a system for carrots and tomatoes with flexibility to let growers and processors work together, and to let the growers of each processor decide how they want to proceed” with contract negotiations.
It sounds conciliatory, but in fact, the changes remove the collective bargaining power of processing vegetable growers. It means the representative board, Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers’ (OPVG), will no longer have the ability to represent growers in negotiations, or to enforce contracts. It basically removes a tool from the farmer’s toolbox.
The changes beg the following questions – how will farmers be able to ensure that contracts are paid as negotiated? How does appointing processor representation to a grower’s negotiation committee help balance the negotiations? Real people, real farmers with livelihoods and businesses on the line are asking.
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