Tory Amendment Would Give Farmers a Tax Credit Who Donate to Food Banks

Jul 10, 2013

Tory Amendment Would Give Farmers a Tax Credit Who Donate to Food Banks

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives say giving a tax break to farmers who donate produce to food banks would address two societal problems – food waste and hunger.

Tory MPPs Bob Baily and Ernie Hardeman say farmers dispose an average of 25 million pounds of food a year, that they can’t sell, which could be given to those who need it. They have put forward an amendment to the Local Food Act which would give a non-refundable tax credit worth 25 percent of the wholesale value to farmers who donate their produce to food banks. The amendment would also allow unused tax credits to be used for up to five years.

“This tax credit will help ensure that local Ontario food gets to some of the people who need it the most,” said Hardeman, noting that people who use food banks should have access to more nutritious food.

Hardeman said the Local Food Act currently does nothing to boost local food consumption outside of government. This will be the second amendment the PCs have introduced - the earlier one was aimed at increasing food literacy education in schools.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.