What’s our carbon plan?

Most producers in Saskatchewan are unaware that the province has passed Bill 126 which sets the stage for carbon credit trading. Unfortunately, exactly what that will mean for farmers remains unclear at this point. In some other jurisdictions around the world, governments are providing clear benefits to agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture has announced loans of over a billion U.S. dollars over the next ten years to finance a number of sustainable agricultural technologies aimed at reducing emissions. One of these is no-till farming. The plan is to expand the practice from the current 25 million hectares to 33 million. Another practice being promoted is a system integrating agriculture and forestry on the same land base. There are also plans to increase the planting of forests by farmers. Each of these measures has a specific target for carbon dioxide reductions. Given the size of Brazilian agriculture and the projection that production there will grow by another 40 per cent over the next ten years, the financing for emission reductions does not seem very aggressive. But what exactly is Canada doing to support emission reductions in agriculture? I’m Kevin Hursh.