Ag Minister Stewart Continues To Oppose Carbon Tax

Oct 26, 2016

A motion introduced yesterday into the Saskatchewan legislature was geared at sending a clear message to Ottawa about Saskatchewan’s opposition to the national carbon tax.

Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart says the national carbon tax would add substantial costs for Saskatchewan’s producers.

"A smallish farm of 2,500 acres would be $10,000, now it might be more, some estimates have gone between $4 and $6 an acre," he said.

"That is on the low side, is $10,000 it could be $12,000 for a farm that size. If you double that, you get into an average commercial sized farm around 5,000acres. Then it is $20,000-$30,000 per year."

Stewart added the tax will have a devastating effect on the ag sector and the economy as a whole.

"We have said that we would introduce when our economy was stronger, some more reasonable level of carbon levy on major emitters and all of that fund would go into new technology like what we have built at the Boundary Dam 3," he said.

Source : Discoverestevan

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.