GREENHOUSE OPERATORS SEEING RED.
Cap-and-trade legislation cited as hindrance
• Ontario’s capand- trade rules try to curb climate change, but unfairly fail to acknowledge that greenhouses consume carbon dioxide as well as produce it, say the province’s greenhouse growers.
“We aren’t happy at all,” said George Gilvesy, chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, a marketing organization for 200 growers who annually export more than $ 1 billion worth of tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers to United States.
Ideal conditions — a temperate climate, innovative growers and proximity to the big North American market — have caused the greenhouse vegetable industry to explode.
Canada is now a greenhouse superpower: Ontario alone has 2,900 acres of greenhouses, an increase of 813 acres over five years ago, representing an investment of $ 609 million just in construction costs, the growers say.
The Leamington area along the north shore of Lake Erie houses the greatest concentration of vegetable greenhouses in North America.
But Gilvesy said Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan rules threaten his industry. Greenhouses, like every industry in the province, in January became subject to Ontario’s cap- and- trade rules, designed to curb the emissions, mainly carbon dioxide, that cause global warming.
The rules force industry to pay $ 18 a tonne for carbon, a rate that could be $ 50 a tonne by 2025.
Gilvesy said it will cost his industry $10 million this year, which is unfair. Although greenhouses burn fossil fuels, mainly natural gas, to keep plants warm in winter, thus producing carbon dioxide, they also consume carbon dioxide since they need more than what is in the ambient air to thrive.
To understand why, you need to go back to high school biology. All plants and trees use photosynthesis to grow. Plants harness sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The plant then releases the oxygen into the atmosphere, while the hydrogen mixes with carbon dioxide to form plant food.
“We are using CO2 and the plants need CO2,” Gilvesy said. “Cap and trade is very bad policy. We are competing against the U. S. and Mexico, who do not have a carbon tax.”
Gary Wheeler, a spokesperson at Ontario’s environment ministry, said in an email that Ontario recognizes that in a changing climate, the greenhouse sector will become one of the most important sources of locally grown food.
“Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan has committed up to $115 million to support the retrofit of agricultural facilities, including greenhouses,” he said. “The investment will help the industry expand the use of innovative technologies and practices to reduce emissions.”
In contrast to Ontario, Al- berta and British Columbia recognize that greenhouses consume carbon and give them a rebate on carbon taxes. Alberta in January announced it would rebate 80 per cent of the province’s $ 20- a- tonne carbon tax to greenhouse growers, copying a rule that has been in place since 2013 in B.C.
In announcing the policy back then, Michael de Jong, then B.C.’s finance minister, noted that, “Greenhouse growers are distinct from most others in that they need carbon dioxide and purposely produce it because it is essential for plant growth.”
Linda Delli Santi, executive director of the B. C. Greenhouse Growers’ Association, said it’s illogical to charge greenhouses for emitting carbon dioxide since they don’t emit much.
Greenhouses typically use natural gas to heat water, which runs through water pipes to heat the greenhouses. Fans blow the CO2 from the water heaters into the greenhouses.
“The exhaust is pure food- grade CO2,” Delli Santi said. “You have a fan off your exhaust, which blows it straight into the greenhouse.”
Prior to B.C. adopting rebates, Delli Santi said the carbon tax on her five- acre greenhouse cost her $50,000 a year, which contributed to putting it out of business.
“We lobbied the government, and because the greenhouse sector needs CO2 to feed the vegetables, they gave us the rebate,” she said. “We were fortunate in Alberta and B.C. to get that buy- in from the government.”
Justine Taylor, science and government relations manager for Ontario’s greenhouse growers, said Ontario’s cap- and- trade rules punish all but the largest operators.
Every greenhouse that produces 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases or more has opted in to the program, because the government provides “free allowances” to rebate their carbon price. Those allowances reduce the carbon price to zero for this year for the association’s 23 largest members, she said.
But about 175 of t he growers are under t he 10,000-tonne threshold, and have the $ 18- a- tonne automatically tacked onto their natural gas or propane bill, she said.