A piece of legislation that would provide farmers with carbon tax relief is in front of Canadian senators.

Bill C-234, which exempts on-farm fuels like propane and natural gas used in grain drying and barn heating from the federal carbon tax, had its first reading in the senate on March 30th and the second reading on Tuesday.

Canadian farmers pay millions of dollars in carbon taxes.

Keystone Agricultural Producers, for example, estimates Manitoba farmers paid $1.7 million in carbon taxes in 2019.

And the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan calculated that the carbon tax at $170 per tonne, which is where carbon tax pricing is expected to be by 2030-31, will cost a grain farmer $12.52 per acre.

With the 2021 Census of Agriculture calculating the average farm size in Saskatchewan at 1,766 acres, a farm of that size would pay $22,110 in carbon taxes.