Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. Thank you for having me here today to present on behalf of Manitoba farmers for the 2023 federal pre-budget consultations.
My name is Jill Verwey. I'm the president of Keystone Agricultural Producers. I operate a multi-generational mixed farm with my husband and children near Portage la Prairie, including approximately 8,000 acres of grain production, a beef herd and a dairy operation. I'm joined today by our manager of communications and stakeholder relations, Colin Hornby.
Keystone Agricultural Producers is Manitoba's general farm policy organization, providing a unified voice on issues that affect agriculture. We're also members of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the lead national advocating organization for our sector, which presented to your committee in October of 2022.
Today I'll briefly discuss our top three recommendations for the 2023 federal budget. These three recommendations have been reiterated by other farming organizations, including the CFA, indicating their importance to farmers across Canada. These recommendations highlight the need for the federal government to address gaps in the agriculture and agri-food value chain.
Our first recommendation is to increase the technical support and funding for implementing 4R nutrient stewardship to ensure more farmers can participate in reducing their emissions from fertilizer use.
The 4R nutrient stewardship is a framework that optimizes efficient fertilizer use through best management practices and is something that we promote to our members. This recommendation relates to the government's voluntary target of reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer by 30% below 2022 levels by 2030.
Progress has been made by Manitoba, with farmers employing sustainable farm practices to reduce these emissions, such as using enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and inhibitors, cover cropping, precision agriculture, nutrient management planning and transitioning from fall- to spring-applied fertilizer. However, if the federal government is looking to farmers to further reduce their emissions to help meet national environmental goals, there must be additional resources to enhance the adoption of advanced practices and technologies. These emissions targets must be supported by ample federal funding and technical support for farmers.
Our second recommendation is to exempt from the carbon tax the use of propane and natural gas used to heat and cool livestock buildings and to dry grain.
KAP has been advocating to the federal government for an exemption from carbon pricing on this issue since it took effect in 2018. If the intent of carbon pricing is to change behaviour by discouraging the consumption of carbon-based products, its application on farmers is misguided, as the areas it's applied to are unavoidable components of our operations.
First, producers are price-takers when selling their livestock and grain: They have little influence on the prevailing market price of commodities. Second, in Manitoba, farmers operate livestock buildings in extreme temperature ranges, and the inside temperature must be maintained at a safe level to ensure the best management practices of animal welfare. Third, grain drying keeps the moisture levels down, preventing food safety issues such as the development of mycotoxins, and protecting Canada's brand. These exemptions for natural gas and propane are included in Bill C-234. We would welcome the inclusion of this legislative change in budget 2023.
Our third recommendation is for the increase and expansion of the agricultural clean technology fund's adoption stream, including funding for smaller projects, and increasing government cost-sharing for smaller operations.
This stream was doubled in the budget of 2022. While our sector is appreciative of this, the funding should be supplemented in this year's budget to include smaller-budget projects and farms that are not eligible under the current requirements. These are farms that cannot generally afford the adoption of the latest technologies, and accessibility barriers have been created due to the current program structure and funding limitations. Increased funding would capture many of these farms while enabling them to incorporate practices and technologies to reduce GHG emissions.
In conclusion, as we move into the future, we must recognize that agriculture has the answer to many challenges we face, but the government and policy-makers must be committed to working collaboratively with our industry. Farmers and others in our sector need the opportunity to provide input and to be involved in the decision-making process as we tackle these challenges that we face. Our organization, along with other farm groups, is here to work with government and industry on advancing our common interests.
Thank you again for your time. We would be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.