A House of Commons committee recommended that the federal government pledge to not follow through on any mandatory fertilizer emission reduction policies in a report published this month.
The report titled Feeding the World: Strengthening Canada’s Capacity to Respond to Global Food Insecurity was published by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Parliamentarians heard from a flood of agriculture experts who raised concerns about how mandating fertilizer emission reductions would jeopardize Canada’s food supply.
“Recognize that Canadian agricultural producers are leading the world in the efficient use of fertilizers and that it not proceed with any mandatory fertilizer emissions reduction policy that would jeopardize farmer’s yields, but instead encourage them to implement best nutrient management practices such as the 4R program,” wrote the committee.
As part of his 2020 climate plan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced a voluntary goal for farmers to reduce emissions from fertilizer use by 30% by the end of this decade.
Although the federal government has insisted that the policy will remain voluntary, exclusive documents obtained by True North show Ottawa floating the possibility of using more forceful measures to achieve their climate goals such as a “regulatory backstop.”
“A number of policy measures could be put forward for consideration beyond just a ‘voluntary agreement’,” wrote Agriculture Canada officials in an internal discussion document.
“A suite of policy approaches will be necessary, and consideration to be given to a regulatory backstop should voluntary approaches not be successful.”
In their report, the committee notes how “some witnesses nonetheless questioned whether it was prudent to ask agricultural producers to implement such a change at a time of considerable uncertainty for their sector.”
The report also recommended that the federal government review its tariff policy on fertilizer imports from Russia.
This comes after farmers groups demanded that Ottawa immediately end the tariffs and return the $34 million acquired via the measures to agricultural producers.
“Canada is the only G7 nation that is penalizing its own farmers with this tariff, the United States has never imposed a tariff on fertilizer from Russia or Belarus,” wrote Ontario Bean Growers executive director Ryan Koeslag.
