Via webinar 12:00 pm EDT Welcome : President, Daniel Brisebois Introduction of 2011 Board of Directors : Daniel Brisebois Activities Review: National Director Laura Telford and Anne Macey from COG Island Natural Growers Financial Report: Treasurer, Sheila Hamilton and Dennis Medaglia, Partner, Collins Barrow Ottawa, LLP President’s Report: Dan Brisebois General discussion and questions from members

 Acclaimed 2011 › Tony Marshall, AB › Rochelle Eisen, BC  Returning Board Members › Sheila Hamilton, AB › Lorraine Beaudette, SK › Geneviève Grossenbacher, QC › Daniel Brisebois, QC › Gavin Dandy, ON  Regional Representatives › Arnold Taylor, Prairie › Roxanne Beavers, Atlantic › Vlad Skotor, ON

 Policy  Outreach to Farmers  Markets Intelligence  Markets Development  Outreach to gardeners & consumers  Advocacy

 Organic Standards Maintenance & Funding  Standards Interpretation Committee (Sic)  Aquaculture  Food Safety › AAFC Organic Study › Agri-subcommittee Food Safety  Stakeholder Reference Group next round of Agricultural Policy  Organic Value Chain Roundtable

 Promotional Opportunities Project commissioned by the OVCRT  National Plan to Increase the Participation of Organic Farmers in Food Safety Programming  Taking Back the Middle ( COG PWW )  Regain Control of Your Food Choices: Build Your Local Organic Food Strategy ( COG PWW )

 Hosted Farm Conferences: › COG Ottawa Eco Farm Day, Cornwall, ON › Conference Committee Guelph Organic Conference, Guelph, ON › Farmer Cooperative Symposium, Kemptville, ON Booths at: › Western Canadian Crop Production Show, Saskatoon, SK › Eco Farm, Asilomar, CA › Toronto International Farm Show, Missassauga, ON › MOSES Organic Farming Conference, LaCrosse, WI › Guelph Organic Conference, Guelph, ON › Organic Connections, Saskatoon, SK

 Webinars › Crop Planning x 2 episodes › Record Keeping x 2 episodes › Transition to Organic Livestock Production › Transitioning the Small Produce Farm

 Prairie Region › Manitoba Farm Mentorship Program ( COG OFCM )  6 interns in 2009 and 2010, 20 participating “mentor farms”, 32 training events since 2009, 5 farm tours in 2010, networking and social opportunities for participants › Completed 3-year farmer training project funded by the CWB ( COG NAT )  27 workshops over 3 years in Prairies reaching close to 400 farmers Alberta Agriculture & Rural Development Saskatchewan Agriculture

 Ontario Region › Workshops and farm tours in south western and eastern Ontario ( COG PWW and COG OTT ) › Piloted transition advisor program in south- western Ontario ( COG PWW ) › Developed farmer support groups to transfer information. Two legal cooperatives have resulted from some of these farmer clusters

› New book in the COG Practical Skills Series published: Record Keeping for Organic Growers

› Two new books in the Practical Skills Series in production:  Scaling Up Organically  Organic Livestock Handbook Revision

 COG OFCM dozens of presentations to Winnipeg child care centres. 21 have signed up for organic food  COG ING has built its GUO project into a food distribution service that delivers organic food to an elder care facility and to schools. ING is now creating the necessary infrastructure to build food self-sufficiency on Salt Spring Island  COG OTT – worked with retailers to increase locally grown organic food on the shelves  COG NAT has been working with entrepreneurs in eastern ON to map the food value chain and raise funds needed to build ‘Organic Central’- a cluster of organic processing and distribution businesses

 COG Organic Directory/Chapter Directories  COG Toronto Annual Conference  COG Toronto Consumer Shows  COG Ottawa Feast of Fields  COG PWW Stone Soup event

 Thanks to Anne Macey of COG Island Natural Growers, COG has been collecting statistical information about Canada’s organic farming and processing sectors for over 20 years

 PUBPATENT lawsuit against Monsanto  The Last Straw Campaign against GMO alfalfa