Kyoto Greenhouse Gas Commitments
and Ontario Corn
By Terry Daynard, Executive Vice-President, OCPA

Canadian negotiators at the December 1997 conference on climate change in Kyoto, Japan agreed to a six per cent reduction in total Canadian emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2012, relative to 1990. The reduction target is expressed as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, and involves six greenhouse gases, of which three are of notable significance to agriculture – carbon dioxide, methane (about 20 times the climatic warming potential of CO₂) and nitrous oxide (about 300 times the CO₂ warming potential).

These reduction targets have not been ratified by the Canadian government, nor is ratification likely to come quickly because Canada is unlikely to make any legal commitments until the U.S. Government has done likewise.

Nevertheless, the wheels are turning in Ottawa. A special interdepartmental process is being established, reporting to Ministers Ralph Goodale (Natural Resources) and Christine Stewart (Environment), and led by David Oulton who was recently Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of Policy in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Committees are being established to develop targets and address related issues, on a sector-by-sector basis, as well as across sectors. For agriculture, two key committees will be one on agriculture and food, and another on "sinks." In addition, $150 million in new federal money was committed in the February 1998 federal budget for climate change activities, though spending specifics are still unknown.

Greenhouse gas commitments have special significance for Canadian agriculture, especially for corn growers. We are major users of energy and emitters of greenhouse gases, but we also offer major potential for reductions. Here’s why:

Soil as a sink for carbon dioxide, and no tillage

Recent research at Guelph, and elsewhere in Canada, has shown that no tillage has positive effects on soil organic matter levels. Dr. Tony Vyn, Department of Crop Science, University of Guelph found that after 18 years of research, land used in continuous no-till corn and soybeans at Elora, Ontario had 20 tonnes/hectare (t/ha) more soil organic matter than land used to produce the same crops using conventional tillage. This equates to 2.3 t/ha per year of CO₂ converted to soil organic matter. If no tillage were to be used on two million hectares of Ontario crop land, this would amount to an annual sink capacity of about 4.6 million tonnes of CO₂ (equivalent to the CO₂ released in burning 1.8 billion litres of gasoline, or about 13 per cent of annual gasoline usage in Ontario). Research data from Western Canada show a similar pattern; while the annual build-up per hectare is smaller with Prairie soils (a result of lower yields), the number of hectares is much larger.

A potential serious problem with this approach is uncertainty, at both the Canadian and international levels, on whether – or the extent to which – "sinks" are to be included in national strategies for greenhouse gas reductions. The international deliberations are more directed at forestry, but they have direct implications for agriculture. Indeed, no Canadian national strategy for greenhouse gas reductions in agriculture makes any sense without considerations of soil carbon sink capacity. The need for inclusion must be a major lobbying initiative of Canadian farm organizations, especially those interested in soil conservation and environmental integrity. This includes OCPA.

Reduced input usage

Major amounts of fossil fuel are used in manufacturing nitrogen fertilizers. Other inputs, though much smaller users of fossil energy, are also significant. Efforts designed to reduce input use (the focus of several OCPA research initiatives) will also help reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. Improved manure use should also serve to reduce the fossil-energy requirements for crop fertilization, though manure can be an important source of both methane and nitrous oxide. Ontario efforts to improve the efficiency of manure use for other environmental reasons should also help reduce associated losses of methane and nitrous oxide, though the direct relationships remain poorly defined. Transportation of agricultural inputs and products is also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Higher crop yields

Where these can be achieved without major increases in input use, higher crop yields should mean a greater annual conversion of atmospheric CO₂ into organic matter. The portion of this added production which can be retained as organic matter for extended periods of time (e.g., as soil organic matter) is equally important.

Emission trading

While the focus is momentarily elsewhere (e.g., investments in hydro electricity and tree planting) there is no reason why the soil organic matter sink, and practices designed to build soil organic matter could not be the beneficiary of emissions trading and purchasing.

Fuel ethanol

We’ve known for some time that using ethanol made from corn results in a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, with the reduction generally being in the vicinity of 50 per cent using technology appropriate to corn production in Ontario. However, recent studies indicate the effect on greenhouse gas emissions could be even more important. A major study completed in late 1997 by the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois analyzed the energy efficiency and greenhouse emissions associated with corn grown in four midwestern states and used in the manufacture of ethanol, for use in either E10 (10 per cent ethanol) or E85 gasoline. On a per-mile-of-travel basis, the replacement of normal gasoline with E10 and E85 fuel meant respective reductions of 2.8-2.9 per cent and 35-36 per cent in total greenhouse gas emissions (expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents). These are equivalent to 28-29 per cent and 41-42 per cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions per unit of ethanol substitution.

Even higher efficiencies were calculated in an as yet unpublished analysis of ethanol production at the new Commercial Alcohols Inc. plant at Chatham, Ontario, using corn grown in southwestern Ontario. This study, endorsed by the Argonne National Laboratory, calculated that when ethanol is blended in gasoline, there is a 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide equivalents) on a per-equivalent-energy-content basis. The higher efficiency in the Ontario study is attributable, in part, to the high efficiency of the Chatham plant (all natural gas fueled, compared to coal usage in many major U.S. ethanol plants; co-generation to meet all electricity needs at Chatham; state-of-the-art technology, versus older technology at some U.S. plants). It is also partly attributable to the lower input use for corn production in Ontario (e.g. no irrigation).

If all Ontario gasoline contained 10 per cent ethanol, the province would realize an elimination of annual CO₂ emissions equal to that released by about 400,000 cars.

Fuel ethanol should figure highly in Canadian strategies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emission. The benefits should improve even further as new improved technology prevails for corn production and ethanol manufacture. While the technology for producing ethanol from other biological materials (e.g. crop residues, forestry and food processing wastes and so-called "energy crops") continues to develop at a slow pace, these will eventually also become important sources of fuel ethanol, with the potential for further reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, by the time this happens, corn carbohydrates may be proving even more valuable as a substitute for other fossil-fuel products, such as plastics.

Expect discussions about greenhouse gases to become more prevalent in agricultural circles as the Canadian government, and its counterpart in other countries, assess how to best meet its Kyoto obligations. And who knows? A significant part of that $150 million, and other expenditures to follow, might be directed at improvements and incentives in agricultural technology.

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