GFO Applauds Legislative Recognition for Feedstocks in Clean Fuel Regulation

Grain Farmers of Ontario is welcoming new legislative recognition that simplifies the compliance process for farmers who wish to sell their crops for biofuel use. 

Legislative recognition means that crops grown in Canada for use in biofuels are pre-determined to be compliant with the land use and biodiversity (LUB) criteria under the Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR). 

Without the recognition, farmers selling crops into biofuel markets would have been obligated to prove compliance on an individual basis. Instead, grain farmers’ compliance will be simplified to an annual declaration that their crops were grown in Canada, and therefore meet the criteria due to legislative recognition. 

Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations were introduced last year as a tool to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuel produced and used in Canada. 

“We have been working diligently on the Clean Fuel Regulations for years to ensure that market access remains streamlined for Ontario grain farmers, who are known as strong environmental stewards.  We very much welcome this legislative recognition,” Dana Dickerson, GFO Manager, Market Development and Sustainability said in a release Thursday. 

Biofuels are a critical market for Ontario corn, representing 33% of end-use market utilization. Across North America, demand for low-carbon biofuels is expected to grow, the release added. 

US feedstocks have also won the same legislative recognition, thus ensuring that US biodiesel and ethanol exports to Canada - valued at $2.8 billion in 2022 - and US biofuel feedstock exports to Canada, will not be hindered under the CFR’s LUB criteria.