(Twitter/@APASGenMgr)

By Alice McFarlane

Carbon tax

The farmgate cost of the carbon tax

Apr 3, 2019 | 4:46 PM

The federal carbon tax will cost farmers at least $2 per acre this year according to estimates provided by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS).

Farmers do not pay the carbon tax on fuel used for production, but it does not cover other costs like grain drying, trucking, fertilizer and electricity.

APAS President Todd Lewis said it will make a big difference for the average farmer.

“What that $2 an acre means is that it comes off our bottom line. There’s no way that we can pass that along to our customers because we operate on a world market. Our competitors don’t have a carbon tax,” Lewis said. “It’s a minimum $2 an acre and, you know, could escalate to much more than that overtime. Certainly it will over time if they increase the carbon pricing.”

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APAS estimates the carbon tax will cost farmers at least $4 per acre by 2022.

“Some of these numbers come out and producers realize what it’s actually going to cost and they’re not going to be happy,” Lewis said. “A number like $2 per acre is pretty easy for producers to understand and so I think we’re going to learn pretty quick about what the costs are and learn more and more about them as this rolls out.”

Lewis said growers should receive credit for farming practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The figure was released during the APAS policy convention in Saskatoon on Tuesday.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF