22 Farm News First > BetterFarming.com Better Farming August 2016 MAIN FEATURE In California and Quebec’s carbon cap-and-trade system, there are provisions that enable the anaero- bic digestion process to be market- ed as a carbon offset. Christina Crowley-Arklie, press secretary to Jeff Leal, Ontario minister of agriculture, writes in a June email that the provincial government has identified practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, such as organic waste digestion, as “project types of interest” in connection with the fledgling carbon cap-and- trade program. The province has issued a request for bids “to develop and adapt existing protocols that may be used in Ontario to quantify and approve” measures that offset greenhouse gas production. Regulations supporting the cap-and-trade program are already in effect and it’s expected trading will begin next year. Crowley-Arklie notes it is possi- ble the use of anaerobic digestion to treat methane derived from manure and food waste could be included on the list of approved carbon offset credits – as long as protocols for digester use are developed and adopted. BF Anaerobic digesters’ role in Ontario’s new carbon cap-and- trade system Material that is not transformed into methane gas is pressed. The liquid becomes fertilizer. The Whale family uses the remaining dry matter as bedding for their dairy operation in Wellington County. linked market raise questions about how well Ontario’s market will perform. The May auction sold only 7,260,000 of 67,675,951 allowances for 2016 compliance and less than one million of more than 10 million future vintage allowances. Hendry confirms the poor perfor- mance of the market auction has generated some anxiety in the Ontario biogas community about the province’s ability to meet its funding delivery targets. Leal defends the funding link. Ontario’s auction will produce a plan to shift to 100 per cent renew- able energy released in draft form in June for public comment. Ysselstein Sr. reminisces about the years it took him to built up a breed- ing livestock export market in countries such as Kazakhstan. It involved building political relation- ships and endless rounds of trade missions and working with both provincial and federal governments. “Nothing goes without challeng- es,” he says. “We’re used to that.” BF continued from page 19 healthy return to meet the allocations, he says. Like any marketplace, including stock exchanges, “from time to time there will be ups and downs in terms of the activity. But we’re pretty confident long-term that the auction between Quebec, Ontario, California and others that join in will produce the estimated results to fund pro- grams that we have identified.” Meanwhile, Ysselstein Sr. expresses nothing but optimism about the future of the Rural Green venture. He points to the demand that will be generated when local initiatives come into play, such as Oxford County’s MULTIFARMER40.7CS PANORAMIC25.6 TURBOFARMER50.8 ARCHITECT OF YOUR SUCCESS SALES RENTALS PARTS SERVICE WE ARE HIRING CONTACT ISABELLE CHICOINE National recruiter 450 652-5550, #340 rhemploi@manulift.ca