A Bruce County Farmer is the winner of a Volunteer of the Year Award from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
Gerald Poechman of Brockton has been involved with the OFA since 1981 and is also active with the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the National Farmer’s Union.
Among the initiatives he’s been involved with include the province’s Future of Farming project, the Rural Development Secretariat, and Ag in the Classroom.
He was also the first egg farmer in Canada to go totally organic.
Poechman was shocked to receive the award and has a strong message for young farmers and those who have complaints about what’s happening in their industry.
He says young farmers do a lot of off-farm work and while they have a lot of technical experience, if they don’t get more involved in farm organizations, there won’t be a future for them.
Poechman says unlike his parents generation, people these days aren’t quite as eager to put efforts into “night time” activities like the organizations, and says it’s difficult with so many farmers now working elsewhere during the day.
He says farm organizations provide great opportunities for farmers to learn professionalism as they go, and to learn more about their own operations.