Cattle farmers concerned over incoming methane protocol

Donald Russell's dairy farm in the Whitewater Region. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)

Cattle farmers will soon be asked to start doing their part in reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

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The government of Canada is proposing a new draft protocol under the Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System to incentivize farmers to implement changes that would reduce methane emissions from cattle.

While the protocol is voluntary, farmers from around the Ottawa Valley met Thursday in Cobden, Ont. to express their concerns about the impact it will have on their business.

"How much is actually being produced? It's really hard to calculate and as a farmer, we're concerned about this," said local dairy farmer Donald Russell.

"We're trying to make the customer happy and we're trying to help the environment just as much because we rely on the environment more than most people do."

Currently, Environment and Climate Change Canada says beef cattle operations make up 71 per cent of the agriculture industry's greenhouse gases and agriculture itself is responsible for 30 per cent of Canada's total methane emissions.

"The protocol will allow beef producers to generate offset credits if they reduce enteric methane emissions in confined beef cattle feeding operations through improved management, diet reformulation, the use of feed additives, growth promotors or other innovative strategies," Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an email.

"The resulting offset credits can be sold to industrial facilities outside the agricultural sector that are covered under the federal carbon pricing system."

The government is aiming to cut emissions 40 per cent below 2005 levels, with a goal to be net-zero by 2050.

"The beef industry has set targeted goals to reduce emissions by a third by 2030," said Craig McLaughlin, vice-president of Beef Farmers of Ontario, who was in attendance at the Cobden Agricultural Hall on Thursday.

"It's a big concern because we all live and work and play on this planet. So everyone can do their part to reduce methane. We will live in a better world going forward," he said.

Conservative MP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Cheryl Gallant organized the gathering and said downloading the cost of reducing emissions to local farmers could impact consumers.

But Donald Russell says reducing emissions is not simple, as each cow produces a different amount of methane.

"They eat organic matter like hay-straw and when they process that or digest it, one of the by-products is methane," said the dairy farmer.