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By Alice McFarlane

Carbon Tax

Farm carbon tax survey launched

Nov 21, 2019 | 4:28 PM

An online petition has been launched for farmers to tell Ottawa how much carbon tax they are paying when they dry grain.

It can be found at NoFarmCarbonTax.com.

Gunter Jochum is President of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers.

“The carbon tax portion, it varies widely across the country. We’ve seen some bills, that we’ve collected in the last two weeks, some of the tax portion is as high as 43 per cent of the total bill,” Jochum said.

The only way to dry grain is by using propane or natural gas. There are no alternative fuels.

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Jochum said one Davidson area farmer, who is still combining canola, shared his personal experience.

“He’s out there combining. It’s in the mid 20 bushels per acre. The moisture is 17 per cent. You can’t put 17 per cent canola in a bin. You have to dry it,” he said. “Safe storage of canola is 10 per cent or less. So, he has to take seven per cent of moisture out of that canola. His hands are tied. He has to do this process, he has to dry the grain.”

Jochum said farmers submitting their energy bills and carbon tax values will drive home the message to the federal government about the added grain drying costs.

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) is calling for a permanent carbon tax exemption on grain drying.

APAS President Todd Lewis said producers are startled by the extra cost of the carbon tax when they get their propane or natural gas bills for grain drying, but it is necessary.

“Usually your grain drying is complete now. There is still millions of bushels that will be dried throughout the winter. Drying grain at -20 (degrees Celcius) takes a lot more fuel then drying grain at 20 above in September,” he said. “With the extended harvest this year there’s lots of grain sitting in bad shape that has to be dried through the cold winter months,” Lewis said.

You can find that petition here.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF