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GOC invests in grain-drying capacity for Eastern Ontario

On Aug. 18, Francis Drouin, parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture and agri-food, announced an investment of up to $2 million for the Port of Johnstown in Johnstown, Ont., under the Adoption Stream of the Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program.

Funding will support the Port in purchasing and installing a new grain dryer with heat capture and air recycling features that will minimize fuel consumption by roughly 20 to 40 per cent, or more than an estimated 344 metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions, annually. This project will expand the ability for local producers to dry grain more efficiently, move grain to market sooner and reduce the risk of grain spoilage experienced in previous seasons due to limited drying capacity.

“Our goal is to help the Canadian agricultural sector innovate and adopt clean technologies,” said Lawrence MacAulay, minister of agriculture and agri-food, in a press release. “This investment in more efficient grain drying technology will help to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and leverage technology to mitigate climate change.”

This is in addition to the announcement made on Aug. 16 by Marc G. Serré, MP for Nickel Belt, on behalf of MacAulay, about an investment of up to $31,796 under the Adoption Stream of the ACT Program for the François Delorme farm, a family-owned farm operation in Verner, Ont., that produces soybean, canola, oats, wheat and corn.

The funding will support the François Delorme farm in purchasing fertilizer spreader equipment with variable rate technology. By using a computer interface to read and pre-set a map that outlines the correct placement and rate of the nutrients to be applied, this technology reduces the need for fertilizer and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. It also allows fertilizer to be spread more precisely, which will cut fuel consumption by 50 per cent.

Across Ontario, the ACT Program has supported 113 projects to date, including 40 grain dryer projects, representing a total of $46.5 million.