Keystone Agricultural Producers welcomes the recent report from the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry about the impacts of climate change and carbon pricing on agriculture.
Titled Feast or Famine, it recognizes the work that farmers are already doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes practicing minimal and zero tillage, as well as utilizing cover crops, to sequester carbon in the soil. In addition, improved animal genetics have resulted in fewer resources needed to feed and maintain livestock.
At the same time, the report points out that “without adaptation action, agriculture would be one of the sectors most damaged by climate change.”
To that end, it calls for measures to help farmers adapt – from increased investment in adaptation research to enhanced education services.
The report also addresses the carbon tax that will be implemented by the federal government for provinces that have not put forward their own carbon tax plan – and this includes Manitoba. Particularly, it calls for Environment and Climate Change Canada to address farmers’ competitiveness on the global market, as well as food affordability for Canadians, by exempting fuels used to heat farm buildings and propane/natural gas used in farming activities.
“The exemption of these fuels is essential because we are competing in a world marketplace where we do not have the opportunity to set our own prices – and where our competitors will not have these costs,” said KAP president Bill Campbell.
“This report mirrors what KAP has been saying, and what we outlined in our Agricultural Solutions to Climate Change report issued earlier this year,” he said.
Campbell is calling on the federal government to implement the recommendations in the report to help farmers adapt to climate change and help mitigate its effects. He notes he had previously written to Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, calling for many of the changes that are now contained in the report.
