APAS News Release
May 23, 2006

APAS APPLAUDS BIOFUEL ANNOUNCEMENT

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) is pleased to hear the announcement of a federal-provincial-territorial renewable fuel initiative in Regina May 23. The announcement of a national initiative on renewable fuels is a good beginning to developing a strong industry for Saskatchewan and for Canada – but it must work for Canada and for the entire value chain.

“APAS has long been promoting the potential for the renewable fuel industry in Canada, focussing on the strengths that Saskatchewan agriculture can bring to the party with nearly half of the grain producing acres in the country,” states Ken McBride, APAS President. “This announcement is a good beginning – it involved several significant federal ministries, including Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, with both federal and provincial governments participating in the announcement.”

“Now that the announcement has been made, the real work starts. It must be done quickly and it must be comprehensive,” encourages McBride. “Canadian biofuel production must be developed quickly because of the increasing capacity being developed in the US. Canada must develop its industry before we become importers of these fuels and become unable to develop our own industry in competition with those subsidized products that will become available from the US.” Cautions McBride, “With the US in mind, we must be very strategic in how we move our industry forward in Canada. Grain and oilseed producers must be involved in development of this strategy because they will be the suppliers of the feedstock – and they must be paid for their product. A complete strategy would also include livestock producers and others, who must be involved as the users of the bi-product.”

APAS’ position is that the development of a national biofuels strategy, done right, is a unique opportunity to combine environmental, agricultural, social and economic policy objectives that are important to Canada, and which have the potential to create a very valuable piece of this economy.

-30-