Anger in Canada’s pork industry over federal carbon tax

Nov 27, 2023

Ontario Pork pointed out that there are no viable alternatives to fossil fuels in swine farming, and that the exemption is “essential in lightening the financial burden” farmers are experiencing at a time of other very high input costs. Because one cannot farm pigs without barn heating, “the carbon tax has added financial strain,” said Ontario Pork, “increasing the cost of production without reducing emissions.”

The carbon tax, it added, is also negatively affecting the competitiveness of the pork sector in domestic and international markets. “Canadian farmers face hurdles that producers in other jurisdictions do not,” the group observed.

Swine farmers in Canada are already exempt, as are other producers, from having to pay a tax on the emissions they create from burning natural gas or propane for barn heating, drying grain and preparing feed. That became law in March 2023.

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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.