Rules taking effect with the new year are expected to make it easier for Ontario agricultural and horticultural societies to qualify for provincial grants in the face of a membership crunch.
The province on Friday confirmed amendments to regulation 16, attached to its Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act, kick in effective Sunday (Jan. 1, 2023). That’s the regulation laying out the membership levels an ag or hort society must maintain to be eligible for various operating grants.
The new rules take effect “amid some societies reporting a drop in membership levels partly due to the pandemic,” the province said Friday.
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For agricultural societies, the new rule cuts the minimum threshold from 60 to 40 members. For horticultural societies, the rule cuts the threshold from 50 down to 25 members, except in territorial districts where it’s reduced to 15 members, down from 25.
Covering costs
The province’s 483 ag and hort societies “educate citizens about agriculture, beautify downtowns, and host fall fairs and exhibitions,” the province said Friday.
The grants available to Ontario ag societies under regulation 16 include covering a portion of prize costs, judges’ fees and other costs incurred in hosting ag and food exhibitions, demonstrations and competitions. Those grants cover a third of such costs (two-thirds in northern Ontario) to a maximum $3,000 per year.
Qualifying ag societies can also get grants for improvements to their land and buildings, and separate grants to help defray costs in years where wet weather causes declines in event ticket revenue.
Qualifying ag societies can also get centennial grants of $1,500 for their 100th anniversaries, if the society is setting up a “permanent commemorative structure” to mark the occasion.
Qualifying horticultural societies, meanwhile, can get grants of up to 50 per cent of their annual expenses, to a maximum of $1,000 (or $1,500 if it had 200 or more members in the previous year). — Glacier FarmMedia Network
