(OTTAWA) – Today’s federal government announcement of biofuels funding initiatives is another significant piece of the puzzle in building a Canadian biofuels industry with farmer participation. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is welcoming the $345 million announced for biofuels research and capital investment incentives.

“These two components, research and capital investment incentives, are part of the package the CFA has been calling for in order to build a Canadian biofuels industry in which Canadian farmers are full participants and from which they are able to profit,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President.

In August of this year CFA released its biofuels strategy, building in producer components that work with proposals put forth by other renewable fuels stakeholder groups. The CFA proposals presented measures to ensure farmers would be able to reap the benefits of a domestic industry. Those proposals included: strong primary research, continual extension and technology transfer, and competitiveness programs for domestic feedstock. However it was also clear in CFA’s proposal that a whole value-chain strategy was needed to build a strong biofuels industry in Canada.

While these initiatives are good steps forward, the CFA strongly suggests more initiatives are needed to make a Canadian biofuels industry competitive with the growing industry in the United States. As yet there are no measures to address lower biofuels feedstock prices in the U.S. due to subsidies in the U.S. Farm Bill, and Canada still lacks the necessary tax incentives for Canadian biofuels processing to achieve competitive parity with the incentives offered in the U.S.

“Today we have another piece of the puzzle, and an important piece, but we do not yet have the full picture,” said Friesen. “If Canada truly wants to build a world class biofuels industry then it needs a plan – a complete plan that paints the big picture saying Canadian biofuel is a great place to invest. Canada needs competitive feedstock and tax incentive policy to build a competitive biofuels industry here in Canada. The CFA hopes to see some of these gaps filled in the next federal budget.”

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.