Ont. Fed. of Ag. dramatically reduces board size

News Release
OFA

TORONTO - Delegates to the 2007 convention of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) have given their approval to a dramatic reduction in the size of its Board of Directors.
As part of a governance restructuring review, delegates voted Monday, November 19, to reduce the size of the board from its current 103 members to 18 beginning in 2009. The move followed a two-year consultation with members across Ontario. The objective is to streamline the operation of the province’s largest general farm organization, making it more efficient and effective in its lobby work.
The decision comes after four previous reviews of OFA and its members as the organization sought greater efficiencies in its day-to-day activities and government lobby efforts. This successful effort began in 2005 when restructuring committee was set up to consider alternatives to the operation of the organization.
Then, the 2006 OFA convention set up an implementation team to develop recommendations believed to be the recipe for a successful transition to a new board. A total of 15 recommendations were presented to the 2007 convention with the most dramatic being the reduction in the number of directors.
The recommendations approved by convention delegates calls for a Policy Advisory Council (PAC) set up much the same way as the current boards of directors. That council will meet a maximum of four times each year, taking input from county federations and individual members to formulate what could become the agricultural policy OFA will adapt.
It will be up to the smaller board to receive input from the PAC and decode what will become accepted as OFA agricultural policy. The organization would then work with governments and commodity organizations to implement the intent of the policy.