LONDON — The first chair of the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) — the organization formed through the merger of three province-wide commodity associations representing producers of corn, wheat and soybeans — hails from an Eastern Ontario region, District 13.
The organization hosted its first Annual Conference March 8-9 at the London Convention Centre. Prior to that, Feb. 18, its first executive was chosen from its board of elected regional directors.
Don Kenny, who farms 1,300 acres near Ottawa, represents GFO members from the counties of Prince Edward, Lennox-Addington, Frontenac, Lanark, Leeds, Grenville, Renfrew and Ottawa-Carleton. Kenny was chosen as the organization’s first chair by the board of directors.
Also chosen to serve on the GFO executive were Henry Van Ankum of Alma, representative for District 10 (Grey, Bruce and Wellington), Mark Huston of Thamesville, representative for District 2 (Kent County), and Kevin Marriott of Petrolia, representative for District 3 (Lambton County). Van Ankum will serve as Vice Chair, the same position he held with the Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board (OWPMB), while Huston was chosen 2nd Vice Chair.
There are some familiar names on the GFO’s first elected board of directors. District 1 representative (Essex County) is former Ontario Soybean Growers chair Leo Guilbeault. Other former OSG directors, who moved to the GFO board, include Marriott and Huston, as well as Kim Turnbull in District 6 (Haldimand, Brant, Hamilton, Niagara), Arden Schneckenburger in District 14 (Prescott, Russell, Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry) and Joe Thompson in District 4 (Middlesex).
Schneckenburger, however, had an abrupt change of heart regarding his willingness to serve the new organization. According to an article in the March 30 Ontario Farmer newspaper, the District 14 director has stepped down and will be replaced by a vote of that district’s members.
Those coming to the GFO board after serving with the Ontario Corn Producers Association include Kenny, as well as Fred Wagner in District 7 (Waterloo, Oxford), Jeff Davis in District 5 (Elgin, Norfolk), and Larry Lynn in District 8 (Huron).
John Morrison in District 11 (Dufferin, Simcoe, Halton, Peel, York) is a former director with the Wheat Producers.
Northern Ontario’s Kevin Runnalls was active in the past with provincial organizations representing producers of canola and seed, and Joe Hickson of District 12 (Durham, Northumberland, Kawartha, Peterborough, Hastings) is a director with the Ontario Seed Growers Association. The other director on the first GFO board is Mark Brock of District 9 (Perth).
