Ottawa has dithered on carbon trading

Canada doesn’t have a national climate change strategy and whether or not you believe in the climate change theories, the lack of a strategy is going to be bad for Canadian farmers. A Grain Industry Symposium is underway in Ottawa and one of the sessions yesterday dealt with the climate change issue. Speakers pointed out that the U.S. is working on a Climate Change Bill that will establish a cap and trade system for carbon credits. The Americans are likely to establish trade barriers against countries that don’t have a plan for reducing emissions and at this point we don’t have a national plan. With the failure of Ottawa to act, Alberta has developed its own carbon trading plan. Farmers in that province are receiving payments for practices such as minimum tillage and planting forage crops. Saskatchewan has been studying the Alberta initiatives. Don McCabe, an Ontario grain and oilseed producer who serves as president of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada had a blunt assessment on the lack of national action. McCabe says Canada used to have a leadership position in getting carbon sinks recognized as a way to cut carbon emissions, but Ottawa has done nothing on this file for many years. While carbon credits will never be a major income source for farmers, every little bit helps. And if we aren’t diligent, climate change policy is going to increase our input costs, while cutting access to some international markets. I’m Kevin Hursh.