Several former growers let it be known last night that they are unhappy with the makeup and activities of the new tobacco board.
The former board had 11 elected members. It was dissolved March 31 when a federal buyout ended the quota licencing system that had been in place since the 1950s.
A five-member board appointed by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission took over June 1. Fred Neukamm of Aylmer, a past chair of the Ontario Flue Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, is the new chair.
This arrangement came under fire during the board's 52nd annual general meeting at the Delhi German Home.
Former growers called the new board undemocratic and unfocussed due to the fact it also represents 118 licensees who continue to grow under contract to tobacco manufacturers.
Jon Lechowicz of Burford, an outspoken critic of the board and government policy toward tobacco, questioned the legitimacy of this arrangement.
"I don't like people appointing anybody to anything," Lechowicz told the crowd of 300.
"This is a democratic country. I would suggest that we have a vote on this before we decide what we do with anything."
Lechowicz bridled at news that Neukamm and other board members recently met with officials from the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to discuss the tobacco belt's suitability as a producer of biofuels.
Lechowicz said board officials have no mandate to discuss the affairs of growers who accepted a $1.05 per pound quota buyout last year.
Linda Vandendriessche of Langton, chair of the tobacco board when it was disbanded, and Deb Gilvesy of Tillsonburg, vice chair at dissolution, urged the new board to separate former growers from current growers as soon as possible.
The pair said the interests of the two groups are so divergent that they urgently need separate representation.
Geri Kamenz, chair of the marketing commission, agreed that the situation is less than ideal.
There were any number of ways to handle the transition after the buyout, he said, adding the marketing commission went with appointments because the members available were trustworthy, experienced and competent. The plan, Kamenz said, is to separate former growers from current growers sooner rather than later.
The new tobacco board has been constituted this way because former growers have key issues outstanding. These include the divestment of board assets, which belong to former quota holders, as well as negotiating the province's participation in the federal quota buyout. The province contributed 69 cents per pound to the quota buyout program of 2005 but contributed nothing to the federal buyout this spring.
As for growers producing under licence, they have yet to declare whether they wish to be independent or represented by a trade association similar to the marketing board. Neukamm gave assurances that these matters will come to a vote this fall.
Neukamm also defended discussing options for former growers with the province.
One such option is having growers pool their share of proceeds from the sale of board assets into a program for the production of renewable biomass fuel for power generation.
"We want to get it to the point that, when this divorce takes place, you have something concrete on which to base it," Neukamm said.
"We're not going to dictate to you what happens. But we want to give you concrete options so you can make educated decisions."
In an interview after the meeting, Gilvesy said options are needed because as many as 100,000 acres of prime agricultural land in the tobacco belt is in limbo until new possibilities present themselves.
Key to this, she said, is the province contributing its fair share to the most recent quota buyout.
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