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By Alice McFarlane

Carbon Tax on Grain Drying

Grain farmers launch harvestfromhell.ca

Feb 18, 2020 | 2:56 PM

The Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) launched a website today to bring home the message of the damage being done to farmers because of the carbon tax on grain drying.

Harvestfromhell.ca is another way farmer groups are trying to show the federal government farmers need an exemption on the tax.

Farmers are invited to share their story and post their grain drying bill to help communicate the full cost of the carbon tax. The website will also feature info-graphics and videos that can be shared on social media.

At a news conference this morning, GGC repeated a request for Ottawa to reimburse millions of dollars spent on the carbon tax on propane and natural gas used for grain drying.

GGC vice chair Shane Stokke said grain drying is part of every operation as farms get bigger.

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“With the variability in the weather, grain drying is an extensive tool that is used now,” Stokke said. “This carbon tax has hit the grain drying operation right where it hurts adding another expense that the farmer can’t absorb.”

Stokke said growers can’t pass the expense on to any end use customer. A permanent exemption is needed.

“I put in my grain dryer 17 years ago. Once in those 17 years I have not used my grain dryer so my dryer is an integral part of my operation to get the crop off in the grade I need to supply to my end use customer, to give them high quality grain,” he said. “Grain drying is not going to be a one year thing. It’s going to be around for years to come.”

Stokke said the website will be a way for farmers to share their personal harvest experiences.

“You can post your bills for your grain drying and so everyone can see that the actual cost is, a real cost to your operation.” he said.

Stokke said he estimates his costs for the fall of 2019 and winter of 2020 will be huge.

“My dryer runs on propane and every two weeks I get a drop of propane and there’s $70 to $80 added tax on that bill every two weeks. I’ve been drying since the first of October, and if you add all that up, it’s going to be in the thousands of dollars.”

On the newly launched platform, farmers are invited to share their #harvestfromhell story and post their grain drying bill to help communicate the full cost of the carbon tax.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF