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Spring
2018
Grains
West
8
THE
FARMGATE
At January’s AWC annual general meeting, a motion to request the Alberta government remove the carbon levy on propane and natural gas used for grain drying was accepted
and passed.
jumped to $50.25 in 2017, while the price
of propane climbed 40 per cent over one
year. Freed noted that the same fill-up of
his 1,000-gallon grain dryer propane tank
in the fall of 2016 cost $1,173, while this
jumped to $2,032 in 2017, a 73 per cent
difference.
While the cost of grain drying has been
a glaring example of an increasing energy
cost on his farm, half of Freed’s total farm
expenses are based on energy, fertilizer
and pesticides. Energy costs alone make
up 11 per cent of his total farm expenses
and go toward soil preparation, planting,
fertilizing, pest control, harvesting, grain
drying, trucking and the heating and
lighting of farm buildings.
Freed emphasized that energy is just
part of rising farm costs and that while
farmers can’t pass on increases in their
tax load, service and input suppliers can
pass theirs on to farmers. His export
rail costs have risen 40 per cent over
five years, for example. Oil prices have
simultaneously decreased by 46 per cent,
demonstrating the difficulty farmers face
in predicting such indirect fuel-related
costs based simply on the price of oil,
which seems to be largely unrelated. He
also said his taxes are increasing, and be-
lieves further changes in tax legislation
will push them higher.
At the AWC fall 2017 region four meet-
ing, Freed motioned that the organization
request the Alberta government remove
the carbon levy on propane and natural
gas used for grain drying, and at January’s
AWC annual general meeting, the motion
was accepted and passed. He has also
been in contact with his local MLA on
this issue and encourages other farmers to
do the same.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF)
has offered the On-Farm Energy Manage-
ment (OFEM) program since the launch
of
Growing Forward
in 2009, through
Growing Forward 2
and now as part of
its successor program, the Canadian
Agricultural Partnership, which launches
in April. “There has been steady growth
in participation over the years,” said Jason
Price, AF energy programs project manag-
er. “In 2009, we had four applicants. Last
year, we had 400-plus.”
The guiding principle of the OFEM
program is to assist farmers in reducing
energy consumption, facilitating innova-
tion that will improve energy efficiency.
The program covers all farm types and
whatever energy-using systems they hap-
pen to use.
Price said the exemption from the car-
bon levy for marked fuel has been a great
relief to livestock and crop operations.
However, farmers in energy-intensive
sub-sectors, including greenhouse oper-
ators, intensive livestock operations and
Photo:CanadianPropaneAssociation