These fuels are critical for heating greenhouses, barns and grain dryers.
“Every producer will feel the impacts of the federal carbon tax through increased business costs,” Todd Lewis, APAS president, said in the release.
“We have no alternatives for these forms of energy use.
“We have to transport our crops and livestock to our customers around the world. And in difficult years like 2018, we have to use energy to dry grain, or it will rot,” he said.
“We have to heat livestock buildings, or animals will freeze. We have no choice.”
Farmers already seek ways to reduce energy usage and expenses, Lewis added.
“This policy will only add costs to our bottom line, without addressing the issue of reducing carbon emissions,” Lewis said.
Ottawa’s national climate policy will be set at $20 per tonne. This price will come into effect in April and will increase by $10 per tonne per year until 2022.
Once the program is in place, the tax will cost the average Saskatchewan household $403, Ralph Goodale, the minister of public safety, said in an announcement in Regina yesterday.
BirdofPrey/E+ photo