Using information collected from farmers in its Show Your Receipts campaign, ACA notes that 50 farms across the country collectively paid $329,644 in carbon taxes in a single month in 2023 for an average of $6,592.88 per farmer. With carbon pricing slated to increase, this figure is projected to reach $893,944 by 2030 for those same 50 farms for an average of $17,878.88.

“Farmers have to grapple with the financial burden of the country's carbon pricing system. While the aim of carbon pricing is to curb emissions, many essential farming practices lack viable alternative fuel sources to reduce their carbon footprint.

“Consequently, carbon pricing places a financial burden on farmers without the potential of driving meaningful reductions in emissions. This strains farmers’ financial resources, constraining their capacity for investments in sustainable practices and technologies,” said ACA, which represents 17 national farm organizations.

Huron-Bruce Conservative MP Ben Lobb’s bill to create the exemption was passed by the Commons and received second reading and agriculture committee approval in the Senate but was gutted by a group of Liberal-appointed senators at third reading and returned to the Commons.

Farmers already must deal with the vagaries of climate, market volatility and supply chain issues every day, said ACA said. “A year of work by a farmer can be lost due to factors completely outside their control, such as a bad storm, international trade wars or transportation disruptions and strikes.”

Farmers have also faced significant price hikes for essential inputs like fuel and fertilizer that exacerbates an already challenging economic environment. “The 2022 growing season in Canada was marked by unprecedented production costs, earning it the title of the most expensive crop in history.”

Farmers generally have little control over the prices they receive for their products and must accept the prices dictated by global supply and demand dynamics. So when production costs rise, farmers cannot simply pass on these expenses to consumers. Instead, they must hope that market prices will compensate for their increased costs.

The carbon tax is a burden because many essential farming practices lack viable alternative fuel sources to reduce their carbon footprint so carbon pricing places a financial burden on farmers without the potential of driving meaningful reductions in emissions, ACA said. The tax further “strains farmers financial resources, constraining their capacity for investments in sustainable practices and technologies.”

With more than 190,000 farms in Canada, the cumulative impact of carbon pricing on the farming sector is substantial. “On-farm innovations and efficiencies such as energy-efficient grain dryers, precision agriculture technology, anaerobic digesters and solar panels can cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. With no viable fuel alternatives, carbon surcharges pull capital from critical investments that would otherwise augment the sector’s potential to reduce emissions further and support food security.”

This news item prepared for National Newswatch