Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, providing 11.9% of the global supply. In 2021 the top five grain exporters were Russia, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Ukraine. Two of those nations are at war with each other, and that conflict is threatening production. Drought conditions also threaten the winter wheat crop in the United States, increasing reliance on Canada for production. However, it appears that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decided everyone can go gluten-free.
In a move that proves that Canada’s version of the vacuous hairdo can’t learn from others, Trudeau’s government is moving ahead by limiting fertilizer use. According to The Counter Signal:
The Trudeau government unveiled their new climate plan, with a focus on reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. That plan is now coming into effect — though the government refuses to acknowledge that nitrous oxide emissions can be reduced without drastically reducing fertilizer use and thus crop production.
According to Fertilizer Canada, Trudeau’s government calls for absolute emissions reductions rather than an emissions intensity reduction. This type of regulation puts a cap on total emissions allowable from fertilizer. The yield of Canadian crops is directly linked to proper fertilizer application. Calling for an absolute reduction will create a ceiling on Canadian agricultural productivity well below 2020 levels, which could be catastrophic in the current global environment.
Recommended: Russia Says It Will Leave the International Space Station in 2024
The fertilizer industry and other experts are proposing a reduction in the intensity of fertilizer use. This kind of target would work to lower the amount of fertilizer it takes to produce a bushel of crops. Fertilizer Canada introduced the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Program in partnership with scientists and agronomists to achieve this reduction. It focused on optimizing nitrogen fertilizer use and planting legumes in the crop rotation to assist with nitrogen-fixing. This approach would not reduce agricultural production but would reduce the amount of fertilizer required to produce the same amount of crops.
Canadian farmers already paid outrageous prices to get the 2022 crop to harvest. “This has been the most expensive crop anyone has put in, following a very difficult year on the prairies. The world is looking for Canada to increase production and be a solution to global food shortages. The Federal government needs to display that they understand this. They owe it to our producers,” Alberta Agriculture Minister Nate Horner said after the announcement.
As other Western governments have done, Canada under Trudeau created arbitrary emissions targets in the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. The legislation signed by Trudeau obligates Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% by 2030. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau asserted that farmers could make absolute reductions without compromising agricultural production. Perhaps she should talk to the President of Sri Lanka — if she can find him in the Maldives.
Sri Lanka’s president announced an end to chemical fertilizer in May 2021. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa forced Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector to go “100% organic.” Production of critical crops such as rice and tea collapsed. Reports estimate as much as one-third of Sri Lanka’s productive farmland was idle after the ban. The country had to import rice and pay farmers who lost their crop income. The failure of the new agriculture policy is one of the issues that drove Sri Lankans to oust Rajapaksa by overtaking his home in mid-July.
Recommended: Jan. 6 Committee Hiding Evidence That Absolves Trump
Europe is already paying for these types of “green” policies. The Netherlands recently announced a 50% livestock reduction that limited the number of pigs, cattle, and chickens. This policy kicked off weeks of protests by farmers. Using their tractors, the farmers blocked roads and trade routes and dumped manure in government offices. The livestock reductions are part of an overall plan to reduce nitrogen in farming. These cuts will have a global impact since the Netherlands is the world’s second-largest producer of agricultural products.
Other E.U. nations are facing energy shortages now heading into the coming winter months. After pursuing the green energy lies of wind and solar while they imported Russian oil and gas, they found themselves energy-poor after Putin invaded Ukraine. They shuttered their coal, gas, and nuclear energy plants to virtue-signal to the world and now have to worry about people perishing in the summer heat and freezing to death in the winter cold.
The U.K. is considering emergency plans that could require millions of Britons to turn down their thermostats and turn off the lights to avoid blackouts. Germany is rushing to fill liquid natural gas stores to try and prepare for winter usage while firing up coal plants after Putin sharply cut exports through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The government has already asked citizens to reduce energy usage to preserve supplies. Energy prices are driving inflation and weakening growth, conditions that some expect to persist into 2023.
No matter where they are in charge, progressives like Trudeau seem to implement policies that drive scarcity and make life more uncertain for their citizens. President Biden is considering declaring a national emergency on climate, and his left wing is chomping at the bit to go after the agriculture industry. It is all fun and games until the coastal elites walk into their favorite coffee shop, and it is out of oat milk. Many of them are about to find out just how razor-thin the supply chains that supply their urban lifestyle are. And you can be sure when their lives get hard, they will blame it on their ideological enemies, just like they always do.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member