Image

New fuel rules big trouble farmers say

November 30, 2020

Heather Wright/The Independent

Local grain farmers are enlisting the help of the provincial government to convince the federal government to change its clean fuel standard.
The feds are drafting the regulation and is asking for public input. Grain Farmer of Ontario local director Emery Huszka says it will make it tough for grain farmers to sell to local ethanol plants.
The new regulations propose farmers could only sell to the specialized market by meeting new criteria which includes not cutting down more than 1.2 acres of trees after January, having a 30 meter (100 foot) buffer strip near streams and lakes, and having the individual farm certification completed.
Huszka recently brought Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton to his farms near Florence to help him understand what that would mean for him. The province would eventually be responsible for enforcing the new federal rules.
Huszka gives the example of the large number of dead trees caused by the emerald ash bore in the region. “If I cleaned up a two-and-a-half acre chunk…I would be disallowed from selling corn to the ethanol plant,” he tells The Independent.
“How do you penalize a farmer for doing a practical thing on the land they own?”
Huszka also wanted to show McNaughton how much land could be eaten up if there would have to be a 100-foot buffer zone along waterways. “See all that land, I’m not able to use it to produce corn anymore,” he told the MPP.
“For some farms, they could have eight to 10 per cent of their ground affected.”
Grain Farmer officials say the fed’s bid to make farmers greener doesn’t take into account the changes in the industry. “Farmers today already use less land to grow more,” said Markus Haerle, Chair, Grain Farmers of Ontario. 
In 30 years, he says, farmers have increased land-use efficiency by 39 per cent which has reduced the impact on the environment in corn production for example by 45 per cent.
And he says, ethanol, which cuts carbon emissions by about 40 per cent, is made with Ontario corn. Haerle and Huszka say the proposed standard wouldn’t apply to US growers and would mean US grain would be increasingly used in ethanol plants like the one in Lambton County.
That’s ironic says Haerle since the US Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Canadian farm practices as sustainable.
Huszka says farmers want to protect the land but he says “there is a better way to do it than this nitwit approach,” adding the Liberal government is looking at this “ideologically…above any practicality.
“If the name of the game is to improve the use of agricultural land, do it in a way that makes sense.”
Huszka’s hope after talking with the local MPP is that the provincial government will push back against the standard and the damage farmers believe it will cause. “The province has been on the right track in terms of agriculture and we appreciate them advocating for us on to the feds on the changes that need to be made,” he says.
The federal bill is now in the publishing stage, Huszka says, which means it is inching toward approval. “The further down the pipe this gets, the more dangerous it is.”

Share This

Image
Front Page

Forest Kiwanis hope a mandarin, apple and cucumber can raise some cash for Kineto

February 7, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent “Why would somebody give 6.2 million for a banana on the wall?” That’s what Forest’s Jose Van Haastert thought after seeing what a crypto billionaire paid for a piece of conceptual art with a banana on the wall. Her family talked about the massive price tag for the art over Christmas. But the idea got Van Haastert,

Read More

Image
News

New scholarship program at Great Lakes created in honour of late Sarnia judge

February 7, 2025

Students in St. Clair Township and Sarnia will be able to apply for a new scholarship program, named in honour of an Ontario Court Justice from Sarnia. The Sarnia Community Foundation says the family of the late Anne McFadyen has set up an annual scholarship program, similar to LCCVI’s Nicol Scholarships. It will honour five graduating students from Great Lakes

Read More

Front Page

Driver taken to hospital after Inwood accident

February 7, 2025

An Alvinston woman had to be taken to hospital after an accident near Inwood Monday. Lambton OPP have yet to release any details about the crash Monday morning which occurred during foggy conditions. Witnesses say two vehicles, a van and large pickup truck, collided at the corner of Inwood and Shiloh Line Monday morning. The van was T-boned. Brooke-Alvinston Fire

Read More

Image
Sports

LCCVI on top of girls high school hockey standings

February 7, 2025

LCCVI moved into a first place tie with Chatham-Kent Secondary School in girls’ high school hockey this week with a 2-1 win over the Golden Hawks in Chatham. The Lancers are 2-0-2 in the south division this season. The regular season wraps up late next week. Playoff dates have yet to be announced.

Read More