Following Canada 's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the Canadian Agriculture sector's focus has shifted to the legislation and regulations that will be required in order to implement the agreement.
Agriculture can play a significant role in accomplishing Canada 's stated goals. For example, agriculture can contribute up to 20% of our reduction targets. This is two times agriculture's share (10%) of Canada 's overall greenhouse gas emissions.
However, producers must be voluntary and willing participants in Kyoto implementation programs if this potential is to be realized.
A significant number of farmers and ranchers are also concerned that new, and unknown, regulatory regimes designed to accomplish environmental goals (e.g., Kyoto ) will sharply curtail their ability to carry out their operations and negatively impact their net incomes.
The design of a greenhouse gas offset system is one of these areas.
Key to our concerns is the use and definition of the concepts of "baselines" and "business as usual" in the proposed offset program. Concerns with the proposed use of these concepts strikes to the heart of the issue of credit for past action.
Since 1990 the agriculture industry has made significant strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A program must be designed to ensure that credit for these past actions accrues to the farmers who have made the right environmental choices. Unfortunately the Government has chosen not to use 1990 as the baseline for its programs, thereby denying farmers credit for their past environmental stewardship.
Addressing this issue would also send the correct economic signals to farmers and help alleviate the problem of "perverse incentives" that may encourage farmers to decrease carbon sequestration in the short term in order to take better advantage of the proposed program.
