Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal

1 Stone Road West Guelph, Ontario N1G 4Y2 Tel: (519) 826-3433, Fax: (519) 826-4232 Email: AFRAAT@ontario.ca

Tribunal d’appel de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation et des affaires rurales

1 Stone Road West Guelph (Ontario) N1G 4Y2 Tél.: (519) 826-3433, Téléc.: (519) 826-4232 Email: AFRAAT@ontario.ca

2023 ONAFRAAT 11

FILE NO: 097NFUO23

DATE: 08/22/2023

IN THE MATTER OF: SECTIONS 4 AND 5 OF THE FARM REGISTRATION AND FARM ORGANIZATIONS FUNDING ACT, 1993.

AND IN THE MATTER OF: An application to the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal by the National Farmers Union – Ontario under Subsection 7(1) of the Act for renewal of its accreditation

AND IN THE MATTER OF an electronic hearing to be held pursuant to Rule 18 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure.

HEARD: June 22, 2023 by video conference

Before: Brandi Neil, Vice-Chair, Dave Fawcett, Member, and Dave Stevens, Member

Appearances:

Krista Long: Executive Director, NFU

DECISION

Background

1The Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, 1993 (the “Act”) sets out the process for accreditation and renewal of accreditation for organizations representing farmers in the province. Previously, a farm organization could apply for renewal under the Act every three years.

2Under the Act farm businesses can apply for registration and obtain a “Farm Business Registration” (“FBR”) number which is required for farming properties to receive beneficial property tax treatment. When a farm business applies for an FBR number it is required to pay a prescribed fee to one of the accredited farming organizations.

3The National Farmers Union-Ontario (hereinafter, NFU-O) was last accredited as a farm organization on November 6, 2018 for a three-year period commencing on December 6, 2018.¹

5In December 2020, Ontario Regulation 783/20 (the “Regulation”) came into force and increased the effective period of the accreditation from three to five years.

6The Act prescribes that the Tribunal “hold a hearing before determining whether” an organization’s accreditation is renewed. The Act provides that if the Tribunal determines the farm organization meets the “prescribed criteria”, the Tribunal “shall, by order, accredit” the organization. The prescribed criteria are set out in the Regulation.

7The organization seeking renewal is a party to the hearing further to subsection 5(3) of the Act. The Act provides in subsections 5(2) and 8(2) that the following persons/organizations are entitled to receive notice of an application for renewal by a farm organization and that they may make submissions in the accreditation hearing:

1. The Minister.
2. The Director.
3. Each accredited farm organization.
4. The francophone organization that is receiving special funding under the Act.

8As this decision will explain, the NFU-O has met the criteria set out in the Regulation and accordingly the Tribunal will order the renewal of NFU-O’s accreditation for a further five-year period.

The Criteria, Evidence and Findings

9The submissions and evidence for the NFU-O were provided by NFU-O Executive Director, Krista Long. Both the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture had representatives in attendance but as observers. Neither of those farm organizations made submissions.

10Further to the November 6, Tribunal order the NFU-O’s previous re-accreditation commenced on December 6, 2018. Section 12 of the Regulation provides that the accreditation expires on September 1, in the fifth year after the order was issued. That section also states that the application for renewal must be no earlier than nine months from the accreditation expiration and no later than six months from the expiration. The NFU-O properly applied on January 26, 2023, within the required time frame.

11The Criteria for the renewal of the accreditation are set out in Subsection 7(2) of the Regulation. I have attached Section 7 of the Regulation as Appendix 1 to this decision. The requirements for the audited financial statements are set out in subsection 7(4). I will go through each item from subsection 7(2) and 7(4).

12The NFU-O entered into evidence a copy of its May 09, 2002 Letters Patent issued by the Province of Ontario. The Tribunal is satisfied they meet the incorporated status criterion.

13The farming organization is required to represent persons carrying on all types of farming businesses no matter what types of crops, livestock, poultry or other agricultural products the farming business produces. They demonstrated compliance with this requirement through various evidence they presented including: their By-laws No. 3, Agricorp Chart from 2022 showing the Commodities produced by the NFU-O’s Farm Business Registrants.

14The Farm Organization must provide education or training in agricultural matters. The NFU-O gave evidence that they have several educational speakers at their annual general meeting on a variety of topics over the last five years that include: Land-Grabbing & Farmland Financialization, Community Land Trusts, Community & Citizen Environmental Activism, Urban Farms & Community Agriculture, Cultivating Climate Resilience in Farming, Land-Sharing & Co-Farming, Insights on Labour Needs, Challenges, and Management Practices on NFU-O Farms, Sustainable Food Systems and the Risks posed by Aggregate Extraction, Tackling the Farm Climate Crisis, Funding Climate Solutions, Building & Maintaining Healthy Soils, Building Community through Food.

15They also provided evidence that they hosted 16 workshops and webinars between 2019-2021 on a variety of topics including succession planning, farm financing and farm budgets and planning. There was further evidence given that NFU-O branches, referred to as Locals have also provide education and training. There were several examples set out in their filed materials including a two public information session from Bruce Local in April 2023 on Genetically Modified seeds and foods.

16There was additional testimony regarding several other types of education and training that was offered in several forums including: Winter of 2022, the NFU-O offered a series of five 2-hour free online Human Resource training modules for farm employers, an electronic biweekly newsletter that includes information for agriculture events, a print newsletter 1-2 times a year, a page in the Rural Voice Newsletter and Rural Voice magazine to advertise workshops on agricultural topics.

17It was clear from the evidence that the NFU-O provides significant education and training thereby satisfying the educational requirement.

18The Regulation requires farm organizations to provide advice and analysis to governments, administrative tribunals or advisory bodies about agricultural issues and the creation of programs or policies that are of interest to persons carrying on farming businesses. The NFU-O demonstrated compliance with this condition by submitting of the following evidence:

i) Excerpt from NFU-O Bylaw No. 3 that sets out an object of the organization is to promote and secure legislation and other forms of government action for the benefit of farmers;

ii) Specific examples were given of Resolutions and the action plans that involve consultations meetings with government and letters of follow up;

iii) NFU-O leadership attended consultation meetings with and provided follow up letters and analysis to OMAFRA, MMAH, MNRF, MECP, ROMA and SOLGEN;

iv) Copies of several letters sent to government offices and elected officials; and

iv) A list of 33 different consultations they have attended with various government agencies in the last five years on a wide range of topics including Animal Welfare, Farmer Wellness, Opportunities for Rural Communities, Women in Agriculture, Growing the Greenbelt, Water Quality Monitoring.

19The NFU-O testified that as of June 7, 2023 they had 1313 Farm Business Registration supporters as in 7(1)(a) of the Regulation and 54 direct members as defined in 7(1)(b). These numbers illustrate that 96 per cent of their supporters meet the definition in 7(1)(a). Their 2018-2022 audited financial statements that formed part of their evidence show that supporters as defined in 7(1)(a), with Farm Business Registrations make up between 97 – 99 percent of their supporters. The number of Farm Business Registration supporters in those fiscal years range between 1432 and 1496. Based on this evidence, the NFU-O satisfies both criteria of at least 250 supporters members holding a Farm Business Registration number and the majority of its supporters are persons described in the Regulation subsection 7(1)(a).

20The Regulation sets out the accredited farm organization fee for March 1, 2022 is $255 plus hst. The NFU-O testified that their membership fee for Farm Business Registrants or Individual Farm Members are the same as the fee prescribed in the Regulation as evidenced in their Bylaws No. 4. Krista Long provided further testimony that the fees were:

• in 2019 and 2020 were $225 plus hst
• in 2021 was $240 plus hst
• in 2022 and 2023 was $255 plus hst

The NFU-O is in compliance with the membership fee requirement.

21The NFU-O provided testimony and submitted documentary evidence showing how its supporters are given the opportunity for input on relevant issues via its resolution policy and how the NFU-O considers and responds to such input. Krista Long testified that supporters can make submissions through their Local via resolutions or on the floor of the AGM. Their Bylaw No. 4 provides for submissions. Resolutions are then brough to the NFU-O annual general meeting, debated and if carried enacted. Krista Long further explained that most supporters engage with the NFU-O via email or telephone and they respond to each email and call answering questions about a variety of topics. The following documents were entered into evidence: Excerpt from NFU-O Bylaw No.4, document approved by Regional Council entitled “Service Standard for Supporters Making Submissions under NFU-O bylaw 4(4)”, examples of resolutions, examples of correspondence with supporters.

22The NFU-O submitted evidence that it has a written agreement with the Minister and the other accredited farm organizations to provide special funding to the Francophone farm organization (hereinafter “UCFO”) entitled to special funding under the Act. The NFU-O produced a copy of the multi-party agreement they signed on June 25, 2015 providing for funding to the UCFO from the CFFO (and other farm organizations). They also submitted into evidence a letter to the UCFO dated March 30, 2023 setting out the amount of payment they were remitting to UCFO in compliance with the Regulations. Based on that evidence, the Tribunal determined that the CFFO satisfies the Francophone agreement/funding criterion.

23The NFU-O submitted a list of its 21 Locals throughout the province, all of which had more than 300 active Farm Business Registrants. They also entered into evidence a list of ten Farm Business Registration numbers in each Local that had made the payment under section 21(1) of the Act and had not requested a refund as of May 31, 2023. The evidence submitted demonstrates the NFU-O exceeds the Regulation requirement of 12 local branches in Ontario that represent at least 10 farming businesses.

24The NFU-O provided testimony outlining the amount of gross revenue they have contributed to the Locals over the last five years. In 2022, they provided $ 52,910 for a total of 15 per cent of the membership fees received. They provided similar evidence in relation to the previous four fiscal years, where the total paid each year to the Locals was 15 per cent of membership fees received. Based on this evidence the Tribunal is satisfied that the NFU-O contributes at least 10 per cent of its annual gross income to the local branches.

25Section 7(2)12 of the Regulation requires that the NFU-O has an arrangement or agreement with its local branches that has provisions regarding five specified areas set out in the appendix. Krista Long testified that in 2010 the NFU-O a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was created with all locals that sets out the roles and responsibilities. They currently have an arrangement with all Local where the roles and responsibilities of the NFU-O Regional Council and Locals are outlined in a Local Handbook which is updated regularly. Their bylaws also address roles and responsibilities. Copies of these documents were entered into evidence. The Locals Handbook also addresses the dispute resolution, that Local branches may send delegates to meetings of the general farm organization, the right of the farm organization to sed representatives to the Locals annual general meeting and the rights of the farm organization to request information from the Locals on branch governance, activities and financial viability. An excerpt from bylaw 9 was provided that also addresses the requirements of section 7(2)12. The Tribunal is satisfied that MOU and Locals Handbook addresses all of these requirements.

27The NFU-O has provided testimony that they have audited financial statements prepared for each fiscal year. They entered into evidence 2022 audited financial statements. There were several excerpts entered into evidence from the financial statements for the four previous years. The NFU-O has satisfied the requirement that the statements be prepared each year and that the most recent copy be provided to the Tribunal. There was testimony that the 2023 annual general meeting was held on March 22-24, 2023 and the audited financial statements were posted on the web site on March 24, 2023. They provided dates for the previous four annual general meetings as well as the dates the audited financial statements were posted on the web site. In all cases the statements were posted within 60 days after the annual general meeting.

28The NFU-O submitted oral and documentary evidence on their written service standard setting out the rules applicable to applications for refunds under subsection 21(8) of the Act, as required by the Regulations. The Tribunal is satisfied they have complied with this requirement of the Regulations.

29The Regulations set out several requirements for the financial statements in subsection 7(4). The NFU-O 2022 audited financial statement was reviewed in detail. The 2022 financial statement includes the following required pieces of information:

a) an auditor’s report and opinion by MNP LLP, Chartered Accountants that they have been prepared by an auditor in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards;

b) In note 8, it sets out the number of Farm Business Registrations after the 27 refunds was 1432;

c) On note 8 it lists the total number of payments remitted under section 21(3) of the Act, the amount of $364,665 after the refund amount of $6,885;

d)On note 8 it sets out there were 27 refunds in the amount of $6,885;

e) Listed under their expenses they set out the Francophone Fee as $5353;

f) On page 2 the branches were allocated $52,910.

30The financial statements from 2022 provides all the required information as set out in the Regulations. The previous audited financial statements from 2018-2021 were not provided in evidence submitted but the Regulations only require the most recent copy be sent to the Tribunal.

31The evidence presented by the NFU-O was very detailed. The Tribunal is of the view that the NFU-O is in compliance with the Criteria set out in the Regulation and will be given a renewal of their accreditation.

ORDER

33The Tribunal orders that the Application by National Farmers Union-Ontario for the renewal of their accreditation under the Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, 1993, be granted. Their accreditation will be in effect for a five-year period as prescribed in the in the Regulation.

Released: August 22, 2023

APPENDIX 1

Farm Registration and Farm Organizations Funding Act, 1993

ONTARIO REGULATION 783/20

GENERAL

Accreditation of Farm Organizations

Criteria

7. (1) In this section,

“supporter”, with respect to a farm organization, means,

(a) any person that has made a payment under subsection 21 (1) of the Act to the farm organization and has not applied for a refund of the payment under subsection 21 (7) of the Act, whether or not the person is a member of the farm organization, and

(b) any member of the farm organization that is not a farming business required to obtain a farming business registration number under section 2 of the Act. O. Reg. 871/21, s. 1.

(2) For the purposes of sections 6, 7.2, 7.3 and 10 of the Act, the following are the criteria for a farm organization to be accredited or to have its accreditation renewed:

1. The farm organization is incorporated under a general or special Act of the Legislature.

2. Its purpose is to represent persons carrying on all types of farming businesses and it is willing to represent a farming business no matter what types of crops, livestock, poultry or other agricultural products the farming business may produce.

3. It provides education or training in agricultural matters.

4. It provides advice and analysis to governments, administrative tribunals or advisory bodies concerning agricultural issues and the development of programs or policies that are of interest to persons carrying on farming businesses.

5. At least 250 persons that have a farming business registration number are supporters of the farm organization or, in the case of a farm organization that is not accredited, have paid to the farm organization, in the year in which the farm organization is applying to be accredited, an amount equal to the amount required to be paid under paragraph 3 of subsection 4 (1).

6. The majority of its supporters are persons described in clause (a) of the definition of “supporter” in subsection (1).

7. The fee required for membership in the farm organization, or for a class of membership in the farm organization, consists of the payment to the farm organization of the amount that is payable under subsection 21 (1) of the Act.

8. It has an established process that allows supporters that have a farming business registration number to make submissions to it on any relevant issue and that requires it to consider the submissions and respond.

9. Subject to subsection (3), it has entered into a written agreement with the Minister and with all other accredited farm organizations to provide special funding to the francophone organization that is eligible to receive special funding under the Act.

10. It has at least 12 local branches located in Ontario, each of which must represent at least 10 farming businesses.

11. It contributes to its local branches at least 10 per cent of the gross revenue for any given year that is received from payments made under section 21 of the Act for that year, excluding any refunds that have been provided in that year under subsection 21 (8) of the Act.

12. It has an arrangement or agreement with its local branches located in Ontario that includes the following:

i. Provisions setting out the respective roles and responsibilities of the farm organization and the local branches.

ii. Provisions setting out a dispute resolution process respecting disputes between the farm organization and a local branch.

iii. A requirement that the farm organization allow each local branch to send a current member to any meeting of the farm organization to which local branches are invited to send representatives.

iv. A right on the part of the farm organization to send a representative to attend each local branch’s annual general meeting.

v. A right on the part of the farm organization to request information from each local branch with respect to the local branch’s governance, activities and financial viability.

13. It prepares audited financial statements for each fiscal year in accordance with subsection

(4) and makes them available to the public within 60 days after its annual general meeting in the relevant fiscal year.

14. In the case of an accredited farm organization applying to have its accreditation renewed, the farm organization has provided a copy of its most recent audited financial statement to the Tribunal.

15. In the case of an accredited farm organization applying to have its accreditation renewed, the farm organization has developed a written service standard setting out the rules applicable to applications for, and the timing and processing of, refunds under subsection 21 (8) of the Act, and the service standard is available to the public on request. O. Reg. 871/21, s. 1.

(3) The requirement to enter into an agreement described in paragraph 9 of subsection (2) does not apply to a farm organization that is applying to be accredited for the first time if the farm organization agrees, in writing, to enter into an agreement described in that paragraph as soon as possible after being accredited. O. Reg. 871/21, s. 1.

(4) An audited financial statement for a fiscal year shall include,

(a) financial statements and an auditor’s report prepared by an auditor in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards;

(b) the total number of supporters the farm organization had in the fiscal year;

(c) the total amount the farm organization received from payments remitted under subsection 21 (3) of the Act in the fiscal year;

(d) the number of refunds the farm organization provided under subsection 21 (8) of the Act in the fiscal year and the total amount of those refunds;

(e) the amount, if any, the farm organization paid in the fiscal year to the francophone organization eligible to receive special funding under the Act; and

(f) the amount the farm organization allocated to its local branches in the fiscal year. O. Reg. 871/21, s. 1.

Footnotes

1. 1Re NFU-O Accreditation 2018 ONAFRAAT 16