Curtis Royal, a past-president of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, is the new president of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association.
The Simcoe County beef producer took the helm of the OCA at the annual general meeting February 24 in Toronto.
Of the many issues challenging the beef industry, Royal says working with the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition will continue to be a key priority. “We’ll continue take our message forward about the state of the industry and we’re also going to do more work on the risk management side to develop a good, sustainable risk management plan for all sectors of our industry,” says Royal.
In October 2009, Ontario farm commodity organizations representing the livestock, grains and oilseeds and edible horticulture sectors came together with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to form the coalition. Royal says the groups are working on strong, workable programs that they can take to government representatives.
“If the facts are there and presented to them properly, I know they recognize the value of the industry. I believe they have to recognize the importance of it – in that there is going to have to be something done to keep this industry strong.”
Also of note from the OCA meeting, OCFA director Paul Sharpe was re-elected to another term as a Feedlot Director on the OCA Board. The other two feedlot positions are held by Curtis Royal and OCFA Vice-president Doug Kaufman.