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Beef Farmers of Ontario Privacy Statement
The Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of our members' personal information in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Ontario Beef Magazine
Subscribers to Ontario Beef magazine, the official publication of BFO, are either members of BFO or do so on a voluntary basis. Subscribers are consenting to have their contact information used for the purposes of receiving the magazine and developing the BFO mailing list.
- This mailing list will be used for the distribution of BFO's magazine, Ontario Beef.
- BFO will not sell, trade or otherwise share its Ontario Beef mailing list under any circumstances.
- A service may be provided whereby items are submitted to BFO and mailed internally with the magazine but all materials must be approved by and acceptable to BFO.
- In rare instances where external, non-commercial organizations, like the provincial/federal government or the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, wish to use the Ontario Beef mailing list to distribute information, those parties must provide their mailing materials in a finished format to BFO and/or its mailing house. BFO will then coordinate the mailing, at the requesting organization’s cost, thus maintaining confidentiality of the list.
- In cases where BFO may commission a mailing, the company providing the service is required to sign a mandatory confidentiality agreement.
- Subscribers to the Ontario Beef mailing list who wish to have their names removed, should contact the BFO office - please allow 15 business days to allow us to update our records accordingly.
BFO Bull-etin Board
Subscriptions to BFO’s electronic newsletter are received on a voluntary basis. Email addresses are kept strictly confidential. The service is used to update subscribers on current issues in the beef industry including news articles, government programs, updates of activities of BFO and other relevant events. Periodically, government or other industry groups may ask to have information included on a weekly update. BFO will review this information for relevance and will determine whether or not to accept it. Commercial postings will not be accepted. Subscribers can stop receiving BFO Updates at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions on all emails received.
Visiting BFO’s Website
BFO is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our website: www.ontariobeef.com You may visit our website without telling us who you are or revealing information about yourself. A visitor to the BFO website is not required to reveal any individually identifiable information, such as name, address or telephone number. Nor is such information collected passively by electronic means.
Information is collected when an individual voluntarily submits a question or comment through the 'Contact Us' feature. If you supply us with your name and contact information through the website, you will only receive contact from us regarding information that you have requested and your contact information will not be retained.
Our server automatically logs information about visits to our website. Server logs record statistical information, such as visitors’ IP addresses, type of operating systems, time and duration of each visit, web pages requested and identifies categories of visitors by items such as domains and browser types. Our web server does collect visitor information in the form of the visitor’s domain or Internet Protocol (IP) address as well as information regarding which pages are accessed. This information is used internally to better serve visitors by helping BFO staff to improve the content of our website.
BFO does not collect information with the use of “cookies”.
Links to other Websites
Links to websites not under the control of the BFO are provided solely for the convenience of users. BFO is not responsible or liable for the content of, or the privacy practices employed by other sites.
Commercial links and advertising are not accepted on the BFO site.
As we cannot guarantee the security of electronic systems or e-mail, we do not recommend sending sensitive personal information or complaints electronically to BFO. For such matters, please contact us by mail at: Beef Farmers of Ontario, 130 Malcolm Road, Guelph, ON, N1K 1B1, by calling toll free to 1.866.370.BEEF (2333) or 519.824.0334 from 8:30am to 4:30pm, Eastern Time, Monday to Friday.
Membership List
BFO’s Constitution provides that anyone who has paid a BFO license fee deduction (check-off) is a BFO member for 24 months. Under the Beef Cattle Marketing Act, a compulsory check-off of $5.50 per head sold by cattle producers is payable to BFO to fund programs and activities. Packing plant operators, auction market operators and livestock dealers purchasing cattle by private treaty are required to deduct BFO check-off from the proceeds payable to the seller, and remit check-off fees and names and addresses of producers to BFO. Personal Information collected by BFO as part of this system is used solely for the purposes of conducting the business of BFO. We do not share personal information with organizations not part of BFO’s normal business practice without your consent. BFO will only share non-public personal information in the following manner:
- With a party representing you, such as your accountant, farm business advisor, feed company representative, veterinarian, lawyer or other third parties with your written consent.
- When permitted or required by law, such as in response to a subpoena or other legal process.
- In an emergency such as a disease outbreak, up-to-date membership lists may be provided to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and/or other appropriate regulatory authorities.
- Under circumstances where disclosure of personal information may be justified or permitted under a legal duty or right, BFO will not disclose more information than is required.
BFO’s staff is required to follow procedures with respect to maintaining the confidentiality of non-public personal information. Additionally, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards within our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification of a member’s personal information.
BFO will retain personal information provided to it only for so long as it is required for the purposes stated above.
Market Information
As a service to its members, BFO assembles and reports cattle prices from across the province. We track live cattle prices and report on rail grade prices. BFO will be held accountable for the privacy and protection of all information collected from Ontario producers for the purposes of market information.
As is the case with BFO’s membership list, BFO’s staff is required to follow procedures with respect to maintaining the confidentiality of this information. Additionally, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards within our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification of a member’s personal information. At no time will individual market information be shared or made public.
Information collected for the purposes of market information reporting will be compiled and published in an aggregate form only.
Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee and Ontario Beef Breeder Co-operative Programs
BFO provides provincial supervision to the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee and Ontario Beef Breeder Co-operative Programs. Under both of these programs, local groups of beef farmers join together to form co-operatives under the “Cooperative Corporation Act” of Ontario. Each local co-op elects a Board of Directors. Board members are responsible for the complete conduct of that co-op’s activities, including employing staff as Administrators and Supervisors and arranging for a “lender” to that co-op.
Membership
Beef farmers become members of a co-op on a voluntary basis, and provide personal information to the co-op board and to that co-op’s lender, to establish their eligibility as participating members. All inactive files or personal information no longer required are shredded prior to disposal to prevent inadvertent disclosure to unauthorized persons.
We do not share personal information with organizations not part of the co-op’s normal business practice without your consent. Co-ops will only share non-public personal information in the following manner:
- With a party representing you, such as your accountant, farm business advisor, feed company representative, veterinarian, lawyer or other third parties with your written consent.
- When permitted or required by law, such as in response to a subpoena or other legal process.
- In an emergency such as a disease outbreak, up-to-date membership lists may be provided to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and/or other appropriate regulatory authorities.
- Under circumstances where disclosure of personal information may be justified or permitted under a legal duty or right, the Co-op will not disclose more information than is required.
Confidentiality and Security
The co-op’s directors and staff are required to follow procedures with respect to maintaining the confidentiality of this information. All co-operative Administrators and Supervisors understand that they are bound to maintain the confidentiality of all personal information to which they have access. At no time will an individual member’s information be shared or made public, other than is required under the Provincial statutes governing the program.
In addition, all co-ops will maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards within the co-op’s offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification of a member’s personal information.
Statistical Reporting
Information provided to BFO by the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee and Ontario Beef Breeder Co-operative Programs for the purpose of monthly program statistical reporting will be compiled and published in an aggregate form only.
Policy Review
BFO will periodically review and revise its privacy practices. Policy changes will be posted on the BFO website and in Ontario Beef magazine.
For More Information
The Beef Farmers of Ontario has appointed a Privacy Officer to address any concerns, queries or complaints you may have. The privacy officer may be reached at 1-866-370-BEEF (2333) or 519-824-0334; Fax: 519-824-9101, by email at info@ontariobeef.com or by mail at the following address:
Beef Farmers of Ontario
130 Malcolm Road
Guelph, ON N1K 1B1