By Bruce Cochrane.
Keystone Agricultural Producers says the federal government's planned Benchmark for Carbon Pricing will need to work for farmers from a business perspective.
The federal government announced, in September, it plans to move forward with plans to introduce a Pan Canada Benchmark for Carbon Pricing.
Keystone Agricultural Producers is working with its members to identify any potential challenges a national carbon pricing structure could create for farmers.
Sean Goertzen, KAP’s Climate Project Coordinator, says an offset market system for carbon pricing could provide incentives for farmers to adopt the technologies and practices that contribute to greenhouse gas reduction but such a system will need to work from a business perspective.
Sean Goertzen-Keystone Agricultural Producers:
Any system that has offsets, it's always voluntary.
Farmers don't have to participate but, if that does come into play, we want farmers to actually be able to use it.
One barrier in other places has been paperwork and the strict rules around taking part in offsets.
We want governments to see if there are ways to simplify the offset system so that we can actually have it worthwhile for farmers to participate.
Other problems with carbon pricing have to do with the potential costs that could increase for farmers.
Farmers already operate on thin margins and they can't pass costs along to consumers the way other businesses can because they're competing in global markets and they can't change the price in those global markets.
Carbon pricing needs to take that into account and make sure there are no big cost shocks for farmers and it needs to provide realistic options for farmers to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in other ways.
Goertzen notes certain agricultural technologies and practices enhance carbon sequestration.
He would like to see a system that helps farmers cover the costs of implementing those best management practices.
Source: Farmscape