Bette Jean Crews Email and Phone Number

Administer the Farm Products Marketing Act and the Milk Act; provide advice, facilitation and direction to boards and associations; develop, formulate, analyze and implement policies designed to improve and stimulate the marketing of farm products.

In my three year term the organization moved through it's first three years of a significant Board structure change (2008-2011) Moving from a Board of 120 to a Board of 18, I built a team with farm members, Board members, 70 member Advisory Committee and 30 Commodity organizations. In 2009 I worked to form OASC, a Coalition of Commodity organization leaders who speak with one message to government. In 2011 OFA was asked by government to lead agri-food consultations on regulatory reform and co-chaired the Open For Business Working Group, focused on Regulatory Reform in the province of Ontario. Currently co-chairing a working group investigating agriculture's role in Species at Risk, specifically the bobolink and meadowlark, with a view to enabling species protection without limiting agriculture's ability to produce food.

Board member 1998-2000Executive Committee member 2001-2005Vice President 2005-2008President 2008-2011

- The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is a farmer-led dynamic provincial lobby which works to represent the interests of its farm members to government. - The OFA is comprised of an 18 member Board of Directors; a Policy Advisory Committee of 69 representatives from across the province; Staff of 41 including Member Service Representatives in each of 15 Regions of the province, 6 Researchers charged with investigating government regulations and policy that affect agriculture, administrative staff including communications and member relations. - OFA is currently working on approximately 140 different files that affect agriculutre. OFA offers agricultural input to government legislation and regulation, including such things as Business Risk Management programs for agriculture, Wildlife habitat, Predator control, rural infrastructure to name a few- OFA provided input into the Clean Water Act to ensure the realities of agriculture were addressed in Source Water Protection strategies.- OFA provided input into the Green Energy Act to ensure that infrastructure and policy is in place to enable farmers to contribute to green energy, farm land is protected as much as possible, and that farmers are able to receive a return on investment in green energy opportunities.

Advise the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks on Implementation of the Species At Risk Act in Ontario

- brokerage and trucking services to local apple growers of pocessing (juice) apples. - buyers group for orchard chemicals.

Along with my husband we grew this over-mortgaged family farm into a successful multi-commodity operaton and expanded the direct sales department to enable our son to enter the farm business and expand it even further. We have gained the respect of our community for our quality product and best management practices. My husband passed away in 2015 but our farm lives on under the management of our son. Farm succession planning enabled a smooth transition to leadership by the next generation along with my ongoing involvement.

ISO Technical Committee 34, Sub Committee 17 serves to advise on international management systems for food safety. Canadian members of this committee provide input relevant to their expertise; my input is generally related to the agricultural industry at the farm level.

In recognition of the need to balance the protection of bobolink with the interests of farmers the Ontario government passed a regulatory amendment that temporarily exempts agricultural operations from the permitting requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for activities affecting bobolink, a species at risk in Ontario, for a period of three years. The Bobolink Round Table will provide advice and recommendations on how best to protect habitat while enabling farmers to harvest our food.

Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.

The Co-operators believes…■in holding the highest level of integrity as our standard of conduct■that our success depends on meeting and anticipating our clients’ needs■in enhancing the excellence of our products and services through innovation■in fostering open communication, teamwork and team spirit throughout the organization■good business depends on responsible corporate citizenship■co-operative principles, which complement our values■in balancing economic, environmental and social priorities as a responsible corporate citizen■that we are accountable for operating our business within a closed ecosystem

COFFS was established to enable industry sectors to communicate and to support and learn from eachother in their work on Food Safety systems. As a GFO rep on that Working Group I worked to ensure proper policies were in place to enable workable systems.

The Agricultural Adaptation Council is a non-profit, grass roots coalition of 73 agricultural, agribusiness and rural organizations dedicated to providing financial resources to help Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food industry remain profitable, grow and maintain its economic strength.

The AMI provided funding for projects to develop business management tools, products, information, resources and training for farm families, farm managers and farm business advisors

This task team, comprised of members from the agricultural industry and the childcare industry, developed a Rural Child Care policy that has since been adopted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, as rural child care policy for Canada that, if adopted by governments will ensure rural children access to quality child care that is flexible, affordable, and accessible for rural Canada.

Worked to inform and unite farm women in Ontario. We established basic priorities for rural child care. OFWN manged a project to enable abused rural women to seek help and educate community police, doctors and hospitals to the need for a coordinated approach.

The Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Ontario is an equality seeking group working toward the improvement of economic, political, employment and social conditions for women.

Executive assistant duties included compiling contracts for municipal infrastructure projects as well as handling inquires and complaints from ratepayers on everything from pot holes to garbage collection