News Flash: Carbon Capture Project in Saskatchewan - Farmers Have Been Capturing Carbon for Years
April 29, 2011 - FNA APAS Release
The recent announcement by the Province of Saskatchewan of the $1.24 billion Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Project is encouraging news to the Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute (FNA-STAG) and Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS).
FNA-STAG CEO, Robert Friesen and APAS President, Greg Marshall, say this demonstrates the government’s interest in innovative carbon sequestration solutions, and working with partners who can provide these solutions. Farmers are encouraged that the door appears to be open to partnerships.
“Farmers in Saskatchewan are sequestering between eight and twelve million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases each year through no-till production practices”, comments Friesen. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the Provincial Government on finding ways for farmers to have the opportunity to sell their annual and retroactive offsets to emitters to help them reach their emission reduction targets.”
Since 1991, farmers have increased their no-till acres from 3.3 million acres to closer to 25 million acres currently. The transition from traditional cultivation methods to no-till operations has meant significant investment in seeding technology by farmers. The opportunity to sell the offsets they create to emitters through a provincially regulated system would allow them to recover some of those investment costs.
“Farmers are looking for win-win situations where they can continue to provide environmental services to society, gain revenue from the marketplace and rely less on government program payments.” says Marshall.
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Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute (FNA-STAG) is a not-for-profit organization with the single mission of "Improving Farm Profitability."
Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) is Saskatchewan’s general farm organization formed to provide farmers and ranchers with a democratically elected, grassroots, non-partisan producer organization based on rural municipal boundaries. As the united voice of thousands of agricultural producers in Saskatchewan, we strive to represent the views of a wide variety of agricultural stakeholders in order to form comprehensive policies that can benefit all sectors of society
For more information contact:
Bob Friesen, FNA-STAG CEO: (613) 230-2222 / (613) 852-9711
Greg Marshall, APAS President: (306) 789-7774 ext 151 / (306) 570-5959