Pea plant proposed
Sell soon Oilseed analyst Mielke sees risk in holding on to canola » PG 20
A French company is investing in a Portage plant » PG 7
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 75, No. 4 | $1.75
January 26, 2017
Manitoba opens up farm group funding discussion KAP welcomes the initiative and the National Farmers Union says it wants in too
manitobacooperator.ca
KAP asks for exemption of on-farm emissions Carbon pricing remains a heated topic of debate as Manitoba moves towards revealing a climate change strategy
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff / Brandon
T
he Manitoba government has promised less red tape — including how the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) collects membership fees. “The current funding structure creates needless and excessive administration costs for farmers and KAP and purchasers of agricultural products,” Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler said while speaking at Ag Days Jan. 17. “A review of the system is something that the industry has been requesting for a long time. This government is committed to doing just that. Consultations will begin immediately on how to implement those changes to what the government considers a more efficient alternative system.” KAP, which has long complained the current legislated, but refundable, membership checkoff is flawed, welcomed the news. “There is an enormous administrative headache associated with our existing membership checkoff program,” KAP general manager James Battershill said file PHOTO
See funding on page 6 »
BY SHANNON VANRAES Co-operator staff / Brandon
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
W
hile Manitoba has yet to join other provinces in signing on to a national climate change framework, Keystone Agricultural Producers has prepared its own proposal for implementing carbon pricing. “We hope we have a solution here that will bring producers in as part of the effort to tackle climate change, but do it in a way that keeps costs manageable... a way that works for farmers,” KAP’s climate project co-ordinator Sean Goertzen explained during an infor-
mation session at Ag Days in Brandon last week. The provincial government has previously indicated it will outline a “made-in-Manitoba” plan to reduce emissions in the first quarter of this year. Few details of what that plan might look like have been released, but Premier Brian Pallister has ruled out a cap-and-trade system in the past. What’s certain is that provinces that don’t design and implement their own plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have one imposed on them by Ottawa, beginning with a carbon price of $10 per tonne in 2018. Having ratified the Paris agreement
on climate change, along with China, the U.S., India, the European Union and others, Canada has agreed to cut its emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. Goertzen said KAP is working with the provincial government in the hope of exempting on-farm emissions from carbon pricing in Manitoba. “That means exempting purple gas and diesel, exempting propane and natural gas used to heat barns and shops and greenhouses,” he said. “We believe this is fair because producers will end up paying for certain off-farm emissions.” Those off-farm emissions
include those from fertilizer productions, shipping and trucking. “Ideally, in the long run, we’d like to see truckers, railways and fertilizer companies find ways to reduce emissions and just avoid paying that carbon price completely,” said Goertzen. But he added that at least in the short term, that cost would be passed on to farmers. “(In) Alberta, where they just introduced a carbon tax, $20 a tonne of emissions, truckers are adding a one per cent surcharge to pay for their increased diesel costs, so we’re seeing this isn’t just a See Exemption on page 6 »
A SURVIVOR’S STORY: CURTIS WEBER CALLS FOR SAFETY CULTURE » PAGE 35