The Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute (FNA-STAG) and the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) are concerned about the regulations being developed for the Carbon Credit Market in Saskatchewan. The Government is currently drafting regulations that will establish the rules for buying and selling carbon offsets, including who might be best positioned to provide those carbon offsets.
"If Producers want to fully participate in the carbon credit system in Saskatchewan, they're going to have to speak up and let the Government know right now - especially if they want to see a reasonable revenue stream as experienced by farmers in other jurisdictions," says Bob Friesen, CEO of FNA-STAG. "We need to talk about what regulation should look like, why it's important to get out of the gate quickly once the regulations are implemented, and how we can make that happen".
The opportunities for farmers come from the carbon they sequester in the ground from no-till production practices. This carbon sequestration would create "credits" that can be sold in places where there is a market for them. For example, the Alberta market allows farmers to sell the offsets they create, and have been getting paid up to $13.00 a tonne. Although the regulations are evolving, Alberta farmers are still able to sell offsets retroactive to 2002.
FNA-STAG and APAS are holding several town-hall meetings in Saskatchewan to raise awareness amongst farmers about Carbon Credit trading and the importance of a fair and transparent mechanism to measure and value carbon offsets. FNA is already active in the carbon credit market in Alberta, recently making a large payment to farmer-members in its carbon trading program.
"We need to make sure the Saskatchewan regulations provide at the very least the same opportunity to farmers here", says Friesen. The farmers that participated in this first project started working with FNA in October and had their payments by the first of January. Saskatchewan Environment has expressed interest in attending at least some of the meetings.
A meeting will be held in Melville at the Prince William Hotel on February 14, 7:00 p.m.
