Celebrating 25 Years

By Dale Mountjoy, President, OCPA

In this issue of Ontario Corn Producer we are celebrating 25 years as Ontario Corn Producers’ Association (OCPA).

Within the first year of OCPA’s establishment, corn producers were finally able to participate in the federal government’s Advance Payment Program. They were advanced nearly $3.6 million of interest-free money during that first year to hold corn in storage for sale after harvest, providing significant
benefit to farm families. OCPA was also successful in having the program expanded to include on-farm usage of corn for over a decade. Over the years, OCPA advanced more than $1/2 billion.

OCPA went on to further represent the needs of producers. In 1984 the Ontario government passed the Grain Corn Marketing Act, authorizing financing for the organization. The organization also began publishing a magazine that would come to be a trusted source of information among
producers across the Province.

The years OCPA spent lobbying for an ethanol industry in Ontario became successful when the first ethanol plant was built in 1996. The lobby efforts continued and today we have a provincial and federal government that made commitments to renewable fuels. With these commitments there has been a significant growth in the ethanol industry in Ontario. Government support has also enabled the construction of the first farmer-owned ethanol plant in Aylmer to become a reality.

A few years ago we partnered with our colleagues in six other associations to form Ontario Grains & Oilseeds, a safety net committee that is responsible for the creation of Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP). Last year our proposed RMP became a reality, when Ontario’s Minister of
Agriculture announced a three-year pilot program that has brought price insurance to Ontario growers at a time when markets are at their most volatile.

We’ve taken our messages to the urban public in recent years too, thanks to the widely popular Farmers Feed Cities! campaign. The campaign has a goal to help non-farm families build stronger connections with food and the farm families who grow it. Now in its fourth year, the campaign continues to grow and gain recognition in rural and urban communities within Ontario and across the country.

Today, as was the case 25 years ago, OCPA exists to provide value and representation to Ontario’s 21,000 corn producers. In this issue you’ll have the opportunity to further review some of the more momentous OCPA accomplishments. We’ve had many successes, and several lessons learned – and we’re a stronger, more powerful association because of that journey.

It seems ironic that the year we celebrate 25 years as an association may be our last as OCPA. Several years ago our membership passed resolutions indicating a preference to streamline the organizations that represent producers of corn, soybeans and wheat in Ontario. For the past four years we’ve been in the process of exploring that option, and we’re close to presenting our proposal to our members across the Province.

Whether we continue to exist as OCPA or as part of a larger organization with our colleagues representing soybeans and wheat, one thing is clear: Ontario corn producers will continue to have a powerful voice in government, industry, and the public, thanks to the hard-working individuals who have contributed to building an organization that so many of us are proud to be a part of.

Thanks for a memorable 25 years!