Producers Need Recognition for their Carbon Management

When APAS was founded during the farm income crisis in the early 2000s, our first project was to create the Strategic Transition and Agricultural Revitalization for Tomorrow (START) program to provide financial support to producers for the environmental “goods and services” that come from their stewardship of the land. That concept is still important 20 years later.

During the years since then, APAS members have been very active in making the case for recognition of their role in managing carbon. We have made submissions to every government consultation and participated in countless meetings and conferences on this issue. We have worked with our colleagues at the national level through the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to promote agriculture’s role in carbon management. APAS and numerous commodity organizations have supported the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association’s ground-breaking research to measure soil carbon and promote science-based policy. In 2012, APAS was a founder of the Saskatchewan Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program, which provides financial support to landowners for environmental projects. We hosted the Provincial Carbon Summit in 2017 to focus public and government attention on carbon sequestration and land management. In 2019, we took part in the Saskatchewan court challenge to the federal carbon tax, fighting to get an exemption for agriculture. We produced research on the carbon tax’s cost impact upon grain drying and transportation and are actively involved in designing offset programs for carbon sequestration. As the largest group of private sector land managers in Canada, Saskatchewan’s farmers and ranchers have a significant role in managing wildlife habitat, maintaining water and air quality, and sequestration of soil carbon. Our members strongly believe that producers deserve financial recognition for beneficial practices, and not punitive rules that hurt our businesses, or the huge burden of extra costs like the federal carbon tax. APAS has worked hard to ensure governments develop policies that support the important role that producers play and maximize benefits to Canada’s economy and the environment.