The grassroots movement, a group of about 25 activist Ontario farmers, are having an impact on farm politics.

Disgruntled and with a fire in their bellies, the movement grew out of the numerous cross-province tractor rallies two years ago.

Noted Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Geri Kamenz: "The grassroots movement has some very motivated and dedicated individuals who don’t mind pushing the boundaries from time to time."

And they are starting to make inroads. Here’s what’s happening east of Toronto. Grassroots member, Lindsay-area crop farmer Bruce Pearse has just been appointed to the OFA task force on the Toronto greenbelt.

Another Lindsay member of the loosely knit group, that holds no formal meetings or memberships, is Joe Hickson, a soybean board member who expects a vote by producers by the end of the year on amalgamating the three big commodity boards – corn, soybeans and wheat. He now has a grassroots ally on the board, North Gower’s Dwight Foster.

"We’re at a cross roads right now," said Hickson. "We hope this gets to a vote before the end of the year before this loses momentum. The momentum is on the back roads and in the board room is to get this done."

In Lanark County, grassroots man of action John Vanderspank has been elected to sit on the wheat board and you can bet the farm he won’t be a wallflower.

Vanderspank said he expects a wheat farmer vote on amalgamating the big three boards in about one year. "It may be a year later than planned and that’s not a bad thing."

Some farmers among the grassroots movement argue you can’t make big changes sitting on a commodity board. "It will be extremely difficult but if you’re not there, you definitely can’t change it," Vanderspank said. At the board meetings " I’m not going to shut up and I’m not going to be cowed."

One of Vanderspank’s plans is to make meetings more public. "Every thing is a big secret," he said, of the commodity boards. "That’s one thing I really want to change. I want producers to know what’s going on – good or bad. I want to cut out all this in-camera stuff."

He said the soybean board is worse. "Every second thing is in-camera," he said, adding that the minutes are often void of details so you have no idea what happened.