Give farmers carbon tax break after ‘harvest from hell’: Greens

Soggy wheat leads to higher bills as fuel used to operate driers hit with levy

It sounds a little counterintuitive, admits the Green party’s agriculture critic, but it’s true.

The party devoted to saving the environment is calling for a break on the carbon tax for some of Canada’s long-suffering farmers.

After a rainy year on the Prairies, wheat farmers have been left with the soggiest harvest in almost a decade; adding insult to injury is an extra charge for the federal carbon tax on fuel used to dry the grain.

Kate Storey, an organic wheat farmer in Manitoba who also serves as the Green party’s agriculture critic, said this tax break would more closely resemble “disaster relief” than anything else and it won’t make the Greens any less green.

Storey also called for the government to invest in energy efficient grain-drying technology and new crop varieties that allow for a shorter season.

But that’s a long-term solution and, for now, the Green party wants the government to rebate farmers for the outsized costs of the previous year.

Last year was “the harvest from hell,” Storey said, but luckily, on her own small farm, they harvested early and avoided most of the problems arising from the wet weather.

She’s aerating her wheat now, but she heard some horror stories from other farmers.

Farmers get an exemption from the carbon tax on most of their fuel, and the fact the levy is applied on fuel used to dry grain has perplexed some and infuriated others.

“It’s really strange to me that the Liberal government considers a grain drier, which is a piece of farm equipment, different than a tractor, which is a piece of farm equipment,” Storey said.

In a statement to the National Post, the Liberal government said it was trying to find a solution for grain farmers in existing aid programs for farmers, or in benefits available to small- and medium-sized businesses.

“We have committed to doing an early review of our pollution pricing system this year focused on competitiveness issues in trade-exposed industries, such as agriculture,” said Sabrina Kim, press secretary for Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

The Green party is echoing a cry heard from the Prairies for months.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has been especially vocal about the issue, bringing an exorbitant carbon tax bill to Ottawa to present to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in October. Moe posted a photo of the bill on Twitter, with an amount totalling $5,495.18 that he attributed to the “Trudeau carbon tax.”

“We have had a very trying harvest in Saskatchewan. We’ve had some weather-related challenges. We have a lot of tough grain that is in our bins that is being dried as we speak. We see some exorbitant carbon tax bills that are coming in on propane and natural gas that is being used to dry that grain,” Moe said after the meeting with Trudeau.

If the carbon tax is designed to change behaviour and move people toward less carbon-intensive activities, it’s not going to be effective for grain-drying because propane or natural gas are the only two options, said Gunter Jochum, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers.

“The diesel fuel for putting the crop in the ground is exempt, so why not the fuel to use for drying the grain?” Jochum said.

Single-litre containers of oil for farm equipment were exempted from the tax, but if a farmer bought it in bulk in a massive 1,000-litre container, then it was taxed, even though that substantially cut down on single-use plastics.

Jochum said government officials were “pretty red-faced” when it was pointed out.

Grain growers have tried to estimate the extra tax burden for farmers, but it’s tricky given many farmers have their grain dried at an elevator and have the costs taken out of the price they eventually get for it.

Based on tax bills farmers have submitted, the association estimates farmers are paying about 10 per cent of their energy bills toward the carbon tax.

If people should draw any conclusions from the sight of the Green party joining forces with the wheat growers and the conservative premier of Saskatchewan in demanding a loosening of the carbon tax, it’s that the party is “realistic” in the face of a major problem like this, Storey said.

“We’re talking about food not rotting in the field.”

The Liberal government considers a grain drier, which is a piece of farm equipment, different than a tractor, which is a piece of farm equipment.