May 4, 2007

More Support for Biofuels

Canada's New Government is committed to requiring 5 percent average renewable fuel content in transportation fuels by 2010 and intends to regulate a 2 percent requirement for renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012. A number of programs have been put in place to ensure that these targets are implemented in ways that result in the greatest possible benefit to the agricultural sector, including ownership of biofuels production facilities by Canadian producers.

The Biofuels Opportunities for Producers Initiative (BOPI), which is delivered through the regional industry councils that administer AAFC's Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) Program, was developed to help meet this goal. Individual project funding is capped at $300,000 and at least 25 percent of the project cost must be provided by the industry, of which one third must come from producers.

Six innovative biofuels projects in Eastern and Central Ontario will receive BOPI funding totalling over $718,000 through the Agricultural Adaptation Council including:

• $169,500 to Kawartha Ethanol Incorporated to complete a business plan and site feasibility study with the goal of creating 80 million litres of ethanol a year from locally grown corn;
  
  
• $214,500 to Wehrmann Farms to develop a biodiesel demonstration project. Wehrmann Farms is a producer of organic grain and seed;
  
  
• $70,000 to Energrow for testing and improving small-scale vegetable oil production systems to provide farmers with a sustainable means of producing on-farm energy;
  
  
• $48,750 to Sunderland Co-op Incorporated to prepare a business plan for production of biodiesel using locally grown canola and soybeans;
  
  
• $206,000 to O'Connor Land and Cattle Company to develop a business plan to encourage producers to invest in a biodiesel plant in the Durham area; and,
  
  
• $9,450 to Clearydale Farms to investigate using soybeans to produce biodiesel for farm machinery and to generate electricity for the farm.

Opportunities for greater involvement in biofuels production facilities allow agricultural producers to become participants in the value chain and increase their share of the benefits from renewable fuels production beyond delivering feedstock.

For more information on BOPI and the ACAAF program, please visit www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoagriculture/bioopportunities-biodebouches-eng.cfm.

For more information on the Agricultural Adaptation Council, please visit www.adaptcouncil.org.