Should Canadian farmers cash in on biofuel boom?

Research published by the federal government found Canada would have to use 36 per cent of its farmland to produce enough biofuels to replace just 10 per cent of the fuel currently used for transportation.

The publication also said 48 to 52 per cent of Canada’s total corn-seeded area and 11 to 12 per cent of the wheat-seeded area would have to be used – all this for Canada to reach its domestic biofuel target of 5 per cent of the national fuel consumption by 2010.
One hectare of sugarcane grown in Brazil produces almost twice as much ethanol as the same area of corn grown in Canada — so should we be the next country to look south for our biofuels?

Kory Teneycke, the executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, says North American fuel demand keeps rising — and using some foreign biofuel may be a good way to help ease our energy shortage.

“Canada’s traditional crude peaked in the 1980s … we’re short energies,” Teneycke said.

“And in terms of whether we need to produce every litre of biofuel from a Canadian crop, or produce it all in Canada, I don’t think we need to.”

Teneycke says Latin American countries without oil reserves are getting an opportunity to tap into a market traditionally reserved for areas rich in fossil fuels.

A 2005 World Wildlife Fund study suggested that Brazil’s biofuel program reduces transport emissions by 9 megatonnes a year — but 80 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions came from deforestation.

It also found a hectare of land in Brazil grows enough sugarcane to make ethanol and save 13 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. But if natural forests were allowed to regenerate on the same land, the trees would absorb 20 tonnes every year.

CTV