8 The Business of Prairie Agriculture Better Farming | November/December 2023 Beyond the Barn Multiple ministers from Prairie provinces are travelling abroad to promote Western Canadian agriculture. Saskatchewan’s Jeremy Harrison, the minister of Trade and Export Development, is part of a delegation heading to the United Kingdom and Poland. “The mission’s focus is on expanding opportunities in agriculture, critical minerals, innovative technology, immigration and talent attraction,” according to a recent release. The delegation will attend the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit and a recruitment fair, to attract workers to fill positions in the province, including in the ag sector. Finding skilled workers in Saskatchewan isn’t always easy, so looking outside of its borders is necessary, said Brent Bazin, a service executive with Young’s Equipment. “With food security becoming increasingly important, we need to keep Saskatchewan farmers in the field,” he said in a statement. “Young’s Equipment is very involved with Saskatchewan’s apprenticeship programs but recognizes the ability to fill all the available jobs from within our training system falls short of current needs.” Saskatchewan’s ag minister also led a recent trade mission. David Marit travelled to Mexico where he and members of the delegation attended the Food Tech Summit and Expo in Mexico City. This event brings together more than 20,000 buyers, investors and experts from the agri-foods sector. “It is important for us to get out and tell our sustainability story across the globe, especially in key jurisdictions like Mexico, who is our fourth largest trading partner,” Marit said in a statement. Mexico bought more than $1 billion of Saskatchewan exports in 2022, with agri-food goods accounting for more than 97 per cent of total exports. An Alberta delegation recently wrapped up a trade mission to promote agriculture. Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson recently spent time in South Korea and Japan to highlight the quality and value of Alberta agriculture. “I emphasized that Alberta is committed to providing the best agri-food products possible for Japanese families,” he said. BF - Diego Flammini PROMOTING PRAIRIE AG WORLDWIDE Government of Alberta photo APAS PENS CARBON TAX RELIEF LETTER TO SASK. SENATORS A Prairie ag organization wrote to its representatives in the Senate urging support for a carbon tax relief bill. “As the Canadian Senate considers the merits of Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, I want to encourage each of you to support this Bill given its implications for Saskatchewan’s agricultural community, and farm families across Canada,” Ian Boxall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) recently wrote. Bill C-234, which would provide farmers carbon tax relief on propane and natural gas used for grain drying and barn heating, had its second reading in the Senate in June and got time in Ag and Forestry committee meetings on Sept. 21 and 26. Canadian ag contributes about 10 per cent of total national emissions. In 2021, this number was around 69 megatonnes of carbon emitted, making ag the fifth-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that year. Removing the tax would save Canadian farmers almost $1 billion through 2030, a Parliamentary Budget Officer report has estimated. “We cannot be bound by policies that diminish our capacity to invest in the very solutions you wish us to pursue,” Boxall said. “Shifting to cleaner energy sources is a costly and gradual process and penalizing us for our reliance on fossil fuels at this stage is neither practical or appropriate.” Senators were meeting again on Sept. 28 to discuss Bill C-234. Better Farming has contacted Saskatchewan senators for updates about Bill C-234 and their positions on the legislation. The bill must go through the report stage and third reading before receiving royal assent and becoming law. BF Minister Sigurdson (right) traveled to the Canada Meat Seminar in Japan recently with executives from Canada Pork, Canada Beef, and the Canadian Cattle Association.
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