Ontario Agriculture Minister Swayed to Save Organic Turkey
In a move that came better late than never, Leona Dombrowsky, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has indicated she plans to accommodate the province's organic turkey farmers handcuffed by Turkey Farmers of Ontario regulations that prevented them from raising their birds in a fashion that qualified for organic certification.
According to the Toronto Star, Dombrowsky has asked Geri Kamenz, chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, to work with the Turkey Farmers of Ontario to amend regulations it introduced in May 2008 that required quota-holding turkey farmers to confine their flocks at all times.
Markham organic turkey farmers Janice and Matthew Dick challenged the regulations before an agriculture ministry appeals tribunal last December only to lose their organic certification when the tribunal ruled against them.
At that point the only hope for the Dicks and quota-holding organic turkey farmers in Ontario was for the province's agriculture minister to intervene on their behalf- and at last she has.
"Well to put it simply WE WON!!!!" is how Matthew Dick put it on a Facebook page dedicated to the issue.