OTTAWA — The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is stressing that it wants a voice when climate change policies are discussed to avoid new regulations that may not be practical.
“We have to be at the table when they are coming up with these policies,” Bob Lowe, chair of the CCA’s environment committee, said during the association’s March 9-12 annual meeting in Ottawa.
The CCA has formed a subcommittee to develop policy on carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change initiatives so it can respond when government regulations or philosophies change.
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More research may be needed to understand where the different levels of government are going as the national agenda moves ahead in dealing with climate change on a larger scale, said Fawn Jackson, the association’s environmental co-co-ordinator.
“Nobody has come out and said, ‘here is what we are going to do at the government level,’ ” she said.
Carbon taxes are likely, and other means may be introduced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture groups want to be in a position to support that while also ensuring the industry is not unjustly penalized.
“Yes, food production has a greenhouse gas footprint, but you need it to produce food,” she said.
Carbon taxes and other charges worries feedlot operator Bryan Thiessen of Strathmore, Alta.
“If government puts on a cost mechanism on our industry, we are going to become less competitive in the world market, also remembering that the world market gets to sell to Canada and they won’t have those same restrictions on them,” he said.
The government has been working with the provinces and territories to develop a national framework on clean growth and climate change by 2017, said Laniel Bateman of Environment Canada.
“Carbon pricing is a policy being implemented across Canada,” she said.
“We are trying to look at the economic opportunity of climate change.”
Canada is responsible for two percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, and oil and gas production is the largest emitter. Alberta is responsible for the largest volume of emissions followed by Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
The recent Vancouver Declaration on clean growth and climate change emphasized clean technology, carbon pricing, specific mitigation opportunities, adaptation and climate reliance.
As well, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama released a joint statement about methane reduction from the oil and gas industry during their meeting in Washington.
A carbon tax or cap and trade system may allow farmers to sell offsets to high emitters, but there has not been much activity, said policy analyst Hugh Morand of Agriculture Canada.
The latest figures from 2013 show Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are 726 million tonnes per year, and agriculture contributes 10 percent of that, said Morand.
There is a goal to sequester five million tonnes of carbon by 2030, but science has not been able to come up with a way to increase carbon storage in grasslands over time, said Morand.
Innovation is a key area as the industry expands its information on climate smart farming practices.
However, the Food and Agriculture Organization says problems are in less developed countries rather than in the production efficient nations such as Canada .
Morand said agriculture is not mentioned in the Paris climate change agreement, other than recognizing the need for food security in the preamble.
However, the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases does discuss agriculture’s contribution. Launched in 2009, the alliance brings countries together to find ways to grow more food without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
An example of the work it promotes is an upcoming project through Agriculture Canada to investigate the environmental impacts of dairy farm systems.Â
The Global Methane Initiative is an international framework to promote cost-effective methane recovery and use as a clean energy source.
It focuses on oil and gas systems, landfills, agriculture and coal. There were 41 partner countries as of October 2011. Canada has been a member since 2005.
Methane could come from livestock enteric fermentation, livestock waste management, rice cultivation and agricultural waste burning.
Of these, livestock waste management offers the most viable, near-term opportunities for methane recovery and use, said the initiative’s website.
