Two Saskatchewan farm groups are backing the province's attack on the federal carbon tax and their arguments about how Ottawa hasn't recognized the sector's strides in cutting emissions and storing carbon should resonate with producers across the country. “Our members strongly believe that carbon taxes do not work for agriculture,” says Todd Lewis, President of the Association of Saskatchewan Agriculture Producers (ASAP). “Producers are not able to pass along increased costs of production to our customers. We use every possible technology to reduce our energy costs, and the federal government has not been very clear on their understanding of this basic agricultural economic reality.” His group believes Saskatchewan's climate change strategy strikes a good balance in recognizing the potential of agriculture and in avoiding additional farm costs that will also fail to help address national greenhouse gas reduction targets. Daryl Fransoo, Director of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (WCWGA), said his group also supports the provincial government's carbon tax challenge arguing that its own carbon reduction plans are more relevant to the province's residents. WCWGA backs the Saskatchewan plan because it values agriculture. “It's time for the federal government to catch up to Saskatchewan farmers and recognize the millions of tons of carbon sequestrated by farmers. “Saskatchewan grain is sold in a global market and an imposed carbon tax reduces our competitiveness,” WCWGA President Levi Wood said. “Through the federal carbon tax, Saskatchewan growers end up paying increased production and transportation costs when moving their product to market. As farmers, we cannot waste our precious resources including time and money, especially when it doesn't make us more environmentally friendly.” The federal carbon reduction policy has been a sore point with farm groups almost from the start. At the 2017 convention of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, a panel discussion on carbon taxes brought out a lot of farmer frustration with the government's failure to acknowledge what the sector has accomplished and should be recognized. To considerable applause Mark Wales, former President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, told the CFA meeting, “the government wants us to suck it all up. All the money they'll collect from this tax without any offer of compensation for the offset actions we've already taken.” Producers lined up at the microphones to outline the carbon tax harmed the financial viability of their operations. For now, the Saskatchewan legal action on the constitutional status of the carbon tax will be heard by the provincial Court of Appeal but it could end up in front of the Supreme Court of Canada. If they can get intervenor status, the basic message from the farm groups will be that agricultural producers currently sequester millions of tonnes of carbon in their soils and that climate change policy needed to create support for producer carbon management instead of tax penalties. Farmers have a lot at stake in curbing climate change. If it isn't already, the carbon tax could become another roadblock to the agrifood sector meeting the $75 billion export target by 2025 set by Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The agrifood and many other sectors have continually raised the competitiveness issue with the federal government and provincial governments that have implemented a carbon tax. While Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay have promised consideration of those concerns, there has been no action. Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.