Over 1,700 Ontario Beef Farmers Participated in Telephone Town Hall Meeting

GUELPH, ON, Dec. 14 /CNW/ - On December 13 at 6:30pm, the Ontario Cattlemen's Association (OCA) held an unprecedented province-wide telephone town hall meeting with more than 1700 beef farmers, the largest and most innovative consultation of its kind in Canadian cattle history.  OCA President, Curtis Royal of Simcoe County, and OCA Vice-President, Dan Darling of Northumberland County, were on-hand to provide detailed information and gather feedback on the Proposed Risk Management Program for Ontario beef farmers.

"This interactive tool provided OCA with the opportunity for broad consultation with our membership at one time," stated Curtis Royal, President of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. "We need all producers in the province to carry the unified message that we support this program and this technology provided us with the means to inform hundreds of producers in this province of our ambitious action plan."

After updating OCA's database of telephone numbers for active beef producers, the advanced teleconferencing system had the ability to simultaneously connect with thousands of farmers at one time. Farmers were also given the opportunity during the call to ask questions about the program and OCA's provincial initiatives.

In late November, OCA and Ontario Pork announced their partnership to obtain support from the federal and provincial governments towards establishing a Proposed Risk Management Program for Ontario beef and pork farmers. The proposed insurance program would require participants of the program to pay a premium to the government representing 30% of the long-term cost of the insurance program on a voluntary basis. OCA and Ontario Pork are asking governments to participate according to the traditional 60/40 federal/provincial split.

For more information, visit: www.beefporkrmp.ca.

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The Ontario Cattlemen's Association (OCA) represents the interests of 19,000 Ontario beef producers. OCA promotes Ontario beef cattle production through policy planning, government lobbying, industry development programs, research, and communications along with the promotion and advertisement of beef. OCA also provides services to cattlemen in domestic and export market development and market pricing co-ordination and reporting.

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For further information:

LeaAnne Hodgins, OCA Communications Manager
[email protected]
519-824-0334