When it comes to talking to government about issues that are most important to farmers, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) members rank regulations (89%) and risk management programs (75%) at the top of the list.
That was one of the results of the OFA’s recent general membership survey conducted this spring – the first survey of its kind for OFA.
“For OFA this survey is a ‘gut-check’ that will help us gauge the importance of issues affecting our members, as well as member satisfaction with OFA activities and communications,” said Mark Wales, OFA president.
“We plan to engage members in ongoing smaller surveys throughout the year, and we’ll repeat the general membership survey in two years’ time to see what’s changed.”
Among the top ranked OFA research projects, “simplifying regulations” topped the charts, with 90 percent of members ranking it as an important issue.
Half of those respondents identified regulations that impose costs to their businesses and the regulatory process, as areas of most concern.
Other key findings of the general membership survey include how members prefer to receive information from OFA. The majority ranked email as a preferred source (81 percent). The survey also revealed that although Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter usage is relatively low, those social media tools show the most potential for increased use, and are currently used significantly more by OFA members who are under 40.
The research was conducted by Ipsos Forward Research. A total of 734 OFA members participated in the study.
