SPENCERVILLE — Ontario Federation of Agriculture vice president Geri Kamenz is questioning whether he will run in OFA elections later this year.

"I don’t know if I’m going to run for local dog catcher," he joked. He later added "I’m mulling over whether I am of any value to the farmers at this point."

Kamenz, a Spencerville hog farmer who joined the OFA executive in 2000, has been caught in a storm of criticism bolstered by the aggressive two-year-old landowners movement. The movement caught the imagination of some farmers, who saw demonstrations and tractor rallies across Ontario’s four-lane highways as meaningful ways to present a message. Those farmers lashed out at the OFA for being too complacent. Other farmers see the landowner movement as too radical, combative and too intransigent to negotiate.

Kamenz explained his main concern is meeting OFA objectives. "I love the OFA," said Kamenz, in its defence. "I have a long history with the OFA of more than 20 years."

You usually don’t hear from people unless they have criticism, he noted, adding that if farmers support his efforts with the OFA "I’d value hearing from those people."