On October 3, our federal government made it known that there will be a price on carbon by 2018 in order to reduce our emissions as a country. Clean technology and innovation will be required to meet that objective. The PEI Federation of Agriculture views renewable energy as an opportunity for our members. Wind, solar, and biomass are some of the options being explored for producer investments. However, many of these proven technologies are capital intensive. They struggle to break even, let alone be profitable.
Investments in clean technology, including tax- or rebate-based incentives, are needed to make technology more accessible to farmers to sequester carbon, feed this energy back into the grid, and improve other environmental incomes. With the introduction of the carbon tax, the federal government needs to ensure that Canadian farmers are not unfairly penalized. We need to remain internationally competitive, as the vast majority of our product is exported beyond domestic borders and is reliant on those foreign buyers in order to remain economically viable.
Canada has the potential to be an innovator and a global leader in this area. National strategies, coupled with federal investments and research commercialization and incentives, are needed.