News

Fuel standards possible boon for Canadian canola growers

The Canola Council of Canada (CCC) sees potential in the Canadian federal government’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) rules released late last week. The CCC is pleased to see the CFS provides options for Canadian farmers’ growing practices to be accepted at a national level without any additional on-farm requirements. In the coming weeks, the CCC says it will seek additional details from the Government of Canada on the methodology for calculating carbon intensity values which will be a key factor driving domestic demand in Canada for canola under the CFS.

“We’re pleased to see the proposed CFS allow canola to be used for biofuel without complex and costly on-farm regulatory burden, in line with US biofuel regulations,” said Jim Everson, president of the CCC, quoted in a news release. “The CFS can create a strong domestic market for canola, reducing reliance on volatile global markets and at the same time contribute to improved air quality through greenhouse gas reduction.”

Under the proposed CFS, Environment and Climate Change Canada would consider the absence of increased net land use for agriculture sufficient to satisfy sustainability criteria, meaning that no further compliance, audits or certification of feedstocks would be necessary, according to the release. It also provides a country the ability to be approved if it is already approved under the U.S. renewable fuel standard, as Canada has been.