Carbon trading antop priority for SSCA president

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The president of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association (SSCA) says the creation of a national carbon credit trading system will be a top priority for his new term.

Edgar Hammermeister was recently re-elected to a second term as president of the SSCA, and says he wants to build on the association’s previous successes.

“We have a very strong brand name for what we have done in the past. We are known for our work on direct seeding, and assisting producers in adopting the new technology that improves the land, protects the water quality, and improves our air,” said Hammermeister.

The Alameda producer says carbon trading policy is an all-important issue for his group, which they will work on going forward.

“Carbon issues will continue to be a very high priority for SSCA. Agriculture can make a large contribution to mitigating the impact of greenhouse gases. As a Canadian policy evolves, we want to be directly involved in shaping policy that makes it practical for implementation and rewards the farmers for participating,” he stated.

“It all comes down to how complicated the federal government makes the system, and whether farmers would be willing to participate. We don’t want to see it die under mounds of paperwork and red tape.”

The greenhouse gases most directly related to farmers are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane.

“Carbon dioxide comes from the emission from burning fuel in our tractors and trucks. Nitrous oxide comes from how we apply our fertilizers. Methane, for the most part, comes from the livestock industry,” explained Hammermeister.

Management practices like direct seeding reduce fuel consumption, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrous oxide is a very strong greenhouse gas, but Hammermeister says producers can reduce the impact by fine tuning how, when, and where they apply fertilizer.

It is estimated that Canadian cropland could sequester about 22 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year by using current best management practices. The big question is what structure will be put in place to measure and credit reductions?

Hammermeister says the current interest in the climate change issue is helpful when it comes to expediting the process of setting up a national carbon trading system. However, getting the system right is more important than getting the system right away, he said.

“The concern I have is that perhaps the decision-makers will want to move too quickly. It is very important that a system is set up that considers all aspects, and a system set up in a hurry just creates headaches later on,” he stated.

“In one way, it’s positive. There is action and interest. But first, the time must be spent to make sure the system is very robust.”

For more information, contact:

Edgar Hammermeister, President
Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association
Phone: (306) 483-7289
Website: www.ssca.ca