While we want to become more energy independent and provide local markets for Canadian oil, gas and electricity, we are also well aware of the problems that arise from climate change. As we rethink our policies, we need to consider all options and look for solutions in “unconventional” places.

Much has been written about energy use for transportation, building heating and cooling, artificial intelligence, et cetera, but consider agriculture, an industry based on a renewable energy model.

Farmers grow crops that harvest “free” energy from the sun and convert it into human useable energy: food.

Of course, it takes some fossil fuel and electrical energy to help this process along, such as building and powering farm machinery and manufacturing fertilizer and other crop and animal production inputs.

Scientists measure energy in megajoules (MJ). One MJ roughly equals 35 millilitres of gasoline, about the size of a container that holds the sauce for take-out orders.

The average Manitoba grain farmer uses about 7,000 to 9,000 MJ of fossil fuel energy per hectare to produce about 70,000 to 100,000 MJ of food energy, roughly similar to other Canadian grain farms.

Grain production in Canada has an energy efficiency of about 10:1 — 10 parts of food energy for every one part invested. This is about the same energy efficiency as wind and solar energy.

And the efficiency of farming in Manitoba and indeed all of Canada is increasing.

One area where Prairie farmers have saved energy is the amount of soil tillage. The bigger challenge, however, is fertilizer.

Nitrogen fertilizer represents almost half of all fossil fuel energy used in growing crops because nitrogen, which makes up about 78 per cent of the atmosphere, is created using extreme heat and pressure.

However, even though nitrogen fertilizer use has increased in the past two decades, the amount of food energy that farmers produce for each unit of fertilizer has increased by about 30 per cent.

When smart livestock integration and practices learned from organic farmers are added, the nitrogen use efficiency of wheat, canola, soybean, oats and other crops can more than double.

However, once the grain leaves the farm, transportation and processing consume large amounts of fossil fuel energy. This means that food products on grocery shelves are no longer the models of energy efficiency they were when the farmer shipped them to market.

Even our food preparation takes energy.

For example, toasting a slice of bread with your average countertop toaster takes about the same energy as it took a farmer to produce that slice.

How can we maintain fossil fuel energy efficiency from the farm to our dinner plates? How can we honour Canadian farmers by not squandering the high level of energy efficiency of the bounty they produce?

The answer lies not with unproven carbon capture schemes or drilling for more oil but rather renewable energy sources that include wind, solar and tidal to get food products to the finish line — our dinner tables.

By linking renewable energy sources for transport, processing and refrigeration, the rest of the food system can maintain a positive energy balance of our food.

This choice would also help fight climate change because each MJ of fossil fuel energy that we do not release into the atmosphere means less carbon and hence less warming.

So, as the greater society rethinks energy use and tries to adopt wiser practices, agriculture can provide a useful guide. Let’s give farmers the credit they deserve and build on their accomplishments.

Martin Entz, PhD, leads the Jarsislowky Chair in Natural Systems Agriculture for 
Climate Solutions at the University of Manitoba’s plant science department. 

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Premiers Doug Ford and Danielle Smith signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) Monday in Calgary. The agreements are mostly focused on the exchange of energy and minerals, though they could also open new trade routes between Western and Eastern Canada.

Why it matters: U.S. tariffs and interprovincial trade barriers remain among the biggest barriers for trade stability and profitability in agriculture.

The agreements will “open new markets and create thousands of new jobs across Canada” and diversify trading partners, Ford said.

Smith said the MOUs are meant to advance pipelines and pathways for exports of energy and critical minerals to markets across Canada and the world.

“Through this agreement, we’ll work together to explore ways to improve network corridors that better connect our energy and critical minerals to markets here at home as well as around the globe.”

Smith said Alberta is seeking to add more rail lines to increase access to Ontario in areas like the Ring of Fire, refineries in southern ontario and a deep-water port in James Bay.

“Let’s get some icebreakers in there, maybe build out some additional rail and road infrastructure, and it could be a multi-purpose port, not just for oil … but also food, fibres, manufactured goods, critical minerals,” she said.

She said this would allow shipping not only to Canada’s East Coast but also to trade partners in Europe.

“Let’s work on that. And maybe I’ll sign another MOU with my friend Francois Legault (Premier of Quebec) at some later point to see if we can get further east.”

Ford said the MOUs between the two provinces are critical at a time when U.S. tariffs are still threatening trade in Canada.

“President Trump’s tariffs and the economic uncertainty they’ve created, they’re hurting workers and businesses in every part of our great country,” he said. “Steel makers and aluminum workers in Ontario and Quebec, fishermen and women in B.C. and Atlantic Canada, farmers across the Prairies, including right here in Alberta.”

“We’re doing this because we need to unlock the full potential of our economy. We need to tear down the barriers and red tape that have held us back for far, far too long,” he added. “This is how we make ourselves less reliant on the United States. This is how we secure the future of Canada.”

The two provinces will also launch a joint feasibility study to determine the best strategies, financing and endpoints for these projects.

Monday’s signings come as Ontario has made efforts to reduce trade barriers with other provinces, including last month’s agreement with Saskatchewan.

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Last year, Alberta temporarily halted approvals of major new projects amid concerns over renewables’ reliability and land use, cooling investment in the rapidly growing industry and challenging the federal government’s clean energy ambitions.

The western province has led the country in building renewable capacity and is on track to eliminate combustion of coal for power this year, six years ahead of plan.

Alberta’s right-of-center government said the pause on approvals would be lifted on Thursday but it would from now on take an “agriculture first” approach with proposed projects.

The province will bar renewable generation projects on land it deems has excellent or good irrigation capability and will set up buffer zones of a minimum of 35 km (22 miles) around protected areas or what the government considers pristine views.

New wind turbine projects will no longer be permitted within those buffer zones.

“We must grow our renewable energy industry in well-defined and responsible ways,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement. Smith says Ottawa’s drive to cut carbon emissions could wreck the provincial oil and gas industry.

Alberta generates most of its electricity from natural gas and produces more than 82% of the country’s crude oil.

The government, citing concerns about the cost of cleaning up renewables projects once they have shut down, says developers will have to put up a bond or security.

In a note to clients, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Nelson Ng said the new rules could slow the pace of development.

The Business Renewables Centre Canada environmental group said the announcement had few specific details and would provoke uncertainty among investors.

“Taken at face value, an unprecedented 35-km buffer zone around all protected areas in southern Alberta would eliminate large sections of the province and would create a backdoor land ban,” director Jorden Dye said in a statement.

The pause on project approvals, which was announced last August, prompted four major international companies at various development stages to stop work on their plans, an industry official said at the time.

—Additional reporting for Reuters by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru.

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“We forecast commodity prices to rise by an average of 2% in 2024 and fall by 4% in 2025,” HSBC wrote in a note.

HSBC expects China’s growth recovery and ongoing supply constraints will keep commodity prices supported this year.

It said geopolitical risks and expectations of looser monetary policy in the second half of 2024 will add to the upside, while downside risks include the ongoing slowdown in global growth.

Cocoa and iron ore prices surged in 2023, while natural gas and coal prices tumbled, with most agricultural products expected to outperform energy and industrial metals in the New Year amid supply constraints and dry weather.

HSBC projected Brent to average $82.5 per barrel and U.S. Henry Hub natural gas prices to average $3.75 per million British thermal units.

Crude futures lost more than 10 per cent in 2023 during a tumultuous year of trading marked by geopolitical turmoil and concerns about oil output levels of major global producers.

U.S. natural gas futures recorded their biggest percentage fall for the year since 2006, under pressure from record production, ample inventories in storage and relatively mild weather conditions.

HSBC also predicts gold prices will average $1,825 an ounce in 2024, predicting the first rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June 2024.

Gold investors anticipate record high prices this year, when the fundamentals of a dovish pivot in U.S. interest rates, continued geopolitical risk, and central bank buying are expected to support the market.

–Reporting for Reuters by Ashitha Shivaprasad, additional reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru.

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While tight Canadian supplies due to a Prairie drought have underpinned the market for some time, the latest strength and any future direction may be more closely tied to movement in energy markets.

“There seems to be a mindset shift occurring here, and it’s making canola become a pure energy play,” analyst Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm said.

With crude oil, natural gas and other energy markets seeing strength around the world “I think canola is getting caught up in the process,” Jubinville said, adding “the energy issues are providing the underlying force behind the market right now.

“As long as the bullish momentum is being maintained in the energy sector, it’s hard to envision canola falling back in any sustained fashion.”

Rapeseed grown in Europe is a major feedstock for biodiesel production there, with rapeseed futures trading at record high levels. Jubinville expected activity in European rapeseed would be a key feature to watch in the Canadian canola market.

“If we have a change in momentum in the energy sector, that will extinguish this current rally,” he added.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Formula E is an all-electric car racing league formally known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Its first season began in 2014.

Better battery technology will eventually find its way into farm equipment.

Its cars bear great resemblance to the low, Batmobile-esque Formula 1 racer, but (based on YouTube videos) their engines whine like Star Wars’ TIE fighters. The cars are a little slower than their conventionally powered counterparts — topping out at 174 m.p.h. instead of 230 m.p.h., according to a Forbes article from 2019.

St. George is an agricultural engineer and principal of SANDGEO, which provides development services around sustainable technology.

During ManSEA’s (Manitoba Sustainable Energy Association) virtual conference on April 6, St. George told his audience that its inaugural season, ‘Gen 1’ Formula E cars had an output of 200 kilowatts and had to be swapped out mid-race before their batteries died.

The second generation of Formula E cars have an output of 250 kilowatts and could last the entire 45-minute race. ‘Gen 3’ cars, still in development, will have an output of 350 kilowatts and can also last the full race.

This seems analogous to the possibilities for battery-powered machines on farms, said St. George. There’s been a lot of investment and working going into batteries, he said. Battery management software is becoming more sophisticated. Price is going down while availability goes up.

And equipment manufacturers are going electric, St. George said.

“It’s primarily from performance characteristics. It’s getting better performance, better power, better load distribution,” he said.

As autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence progress in farm equipment, electric drives makes more and more sense, St. George added. It’s easier for a computer to drive an electric engine than a diesel one.

“This is going to be a game changer now because once you go to an electric drive then the question is, ‘Well, what are you using to power that drive with?’”

Renewable energy can fit in nicely, St. George said.

Formula E uses generators that run on glycerin, which its website says is a byproduct of biodiesel production. St. George said he’s not aware of glycerin being used in other sectors like agriculture.

“I believe it will be moreso a niche fuel source in the future,” St. George told the Co-operator. “Biodiesel hasn’t taken off, partially due to the cost of commodities like canola being higher than fossil fuel equivalents or emerging alternatives as waste biomass resources to useful energy. The glycerin supply is ultimately tied to the biodiesel supply.

“The firm energy capacity of the renewable energy source has to match the effective field capacity of the farm equipment,” said St. George. Some renewable sources can produce a lot of power over a long time, but with agricultural producers are often packing a lot of use into a short time.

Batteries could be charged by renewable grid-supplied power, said St. George. However, in some cases grid service isn’t very strong in rural areas. Farmers might be limited to small tractors or limited use time.

St. George said he’s been focusing on farm-generated, renewable electric power from sustainable biomass — ideally the biomass produced on the farm.

“In terms of closing the loop, I see it as the ultimate for the farm,” he said.

SANDGEO is involved in a project related to bringing biomass-fuelled, energy-producing technology to Canada, but the project is still in its early stages.

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The Alberta government said it would also lower property tax assessments on less-productive wells and eliminate a provincial tax on drills.

The measures combined are worth between $81 million and $84 million in the first year, government spokesman Justin Marshall said.

Energy companies have posted losses and laid off workers this year because of coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions that have crushed fuel demand and weakened oil prices. Some rural communities have been unable to collect taxes from the companies.

The tax break, applied to taxes starting in 2022, represents a balance between helping energy companies compete and keeping municipalities viable, said Al Kemmere, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta. The province had previously been considering assessment reforms that municipalities feared would be more costly to their tax rolls.

There were 48 active rigs in Alberta during the week of Oct. 12, down from 97 a year earlier, according to data from the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors.

The drop-off this year has raised risks that much of the country’s equipment will permanently fall out of service.

— Rod Nickel is a Reuters correspondent covering the agriculture and mining sectors from Winnipeg.

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The gain in producer prices followed four months of consecutive decreases and matched a flash estimate released by the statistical agency earlier this month.

StatsCan said the May increase was driven by higher prices for meat, fish and dairy products as well as gains in energy and petroleum products. Of the 21 major commodity groups monitored by the agency, six rose, 11 fell, and four were unchanged.

Meat product prices rose 13.3 per cent, led by fresh and frozen pork, which increased a record 31.3 per cent as disruptions in the supply chain from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and higher demand for meat products contributed to the gain.

Earlier this month, StatsCan had said it expected meat prices would rise following outbreaks of COVID-19 in Canadian and U.S. meat plants that forced operations to shut down or reduce capacity.

Meanwhile, prices for energy and petroleum products rose by 4.6 per cent.

In a separate release, the national statistical agency said Canadian building permits rose 20.2 per cent, the largest percentage increase since March 2009, as some provinces eased constraints imposed on the construction industry due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the May figure was still 20.4 per cent below the peak seen in January 2020, StatsCan said.

The value of residential permits was up in six provinces, rising 18.7 per cent, with most of the gains due to a jump in the value of permits in single-family homes, which rose 37.5 per cent. Meanwhile, commercial permits jumped 20.8 per cent.

— Kelsey Johnson reports on Canadian economic issues for Reuters from Ottawa.

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Feeder cattle also jumped to their normal trading day limits, as the sector overall saw support from rallies in the energy and equities markets.

It was a sharp turn from Monday, when live cattle futures plunged to their daily trading limit as beef inventories remain robust with much of the nation’s restaurant industry shuttered because of the pandemic.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) most actively traded live cattle futures ended the day up their 4.5-cent limit at 84.8 cents/lb., while most actively traded feeder cattle futures settled up 4.5 cents at 113.8 cents/lb. (all figures US$).

Brian Hoops, senior market analyst at Midwest Marketing Solutions, said the volatility of the recent days in livestock futures was being driven in part by technical trading.

On Monday, the cattle market was “margin-call type selling,” Hoops said. “Now that has gone away, we’re seeing the market recover.”

Hoops said he expected live cattle futures could continue to rally in the coming days, as futures are still heavily discounted compared with the cash market.

“You have June futures trading at $80,” Hoops said, noting: “That’s the largest discount we’ve ever seen this time of year, compared to the cash market.”

CME most actively traded lean hog futures ended up three cents at 52.65 cents/lb.

While U.S. pork exports have grown in recent months, market hopes are waning that the United States would help restock China’s need for pork as the African swine fever outbreak devastated its hog herd, said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.

“China now is trying to rebuild their herd,” said Roose, who expects U.S. sow herds to shrink at a faster rate amid the pork supplies glut. “The question everyone’s asking is, what’s the demand destruction all of this will have on the meat market going forward — and nobody knows.”

Trading limits for feeder cattle will be 6.75 cents on Wednesday, while lean hog and live cattle will be at 4.5 cents, the CME Group said.

— Reporting for Reuters by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; additional reporting by Christopher Walljasper in Chicago.

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The FAO last week issued a statement reminding the public that “interfering with any oil and gas infrastructure or that of an electrical distribution utility could create public safety risks including spills of liquids and gases, explosions, fires and electrocution.”

The statement urged Albertans “not to follow recommendations from a surface rights group in the province that advised they ‘safely turn off the power to the well and safely close the valves.'”

The FAO didn’t name a specific “surface rights group” in its Jan. 27 statement, but quoted verbatim from a release published on the website of the Action Surface Rights Association (ASR) dated Jan. 23.

“(I)t is very important that rural Albertans understand that following this reckless advice can pose risks to personal and public safety, create environmental hazards and could result in exposure to legal claims for damages and criminal charges,” the FAO said.

Landowners can be “rightfully frustrated” when a company doesn’t meet surface lease obligations, the FAO said, but farmers in those cases “should seek specific legal advice to understand their rights, responsibilities and risks prior to taking any steps to deal with contractual breaches by operators.”

ASR, in its Jan. 23 release, said it has taken the “extraordinary step” of urging ranchers and farmers who aren’t getting paid to “take direct action since the UCP [Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party] won’t.”

The group’s release quotes an ASR member as saying that if a farmer or rancher has a producing well on his or her land “and the company is not paying compensation for your crop damages, go and safely turn off the power to the well and safely close the valves until they pay up.”

The group compared such action to that of a landlord who “would change the locks for a tenant who does not pay.”

ASR, in its release, alleged the province’s Surface Rights Board (SRB) “has started arbitrarily reducing the annual well site compensation payments” it pays out when resource companies “fail to pay.”

The ASR release also alleged energy companies with “active, producing wells” have now “just stopped paying or sent cheques for significantly reduced compensation.” No specific company was named in the group’s release.

A landowner can seek compensation for unpaid or reduced annual rentals through the SRB, the FAO said Jan. 27.

A resource company, the FAO added, “cannot unilaterally decide to reduce the amount of annual compensation provided to a landowner for loss of use and adverse effect.”

Among its other responsibilities, the Edmonton-based FAO is billed as a resource for farmers and ranchers affected by energy and utility developments, which can “assist with mediation and dispute resolution services… when disputes arise between landowners and industry.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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