Funding for “local food” programs and conversions to organic farming are on Manitoba’s list of projects to reach its proposed Kyoto target by 2012.
The province’s Kyoto action plan, outlined Monday, proposes $145 million in funding for a number of projects such as geothermal heating and cooling systems for new schools, rapid transit and an extension of its rebate program for purchases of hybrid cars.
For farmers, the plan includes $100,000 over two years for a Manitoba organics transition program, which would offer incentives to those who want to convert cropland and pasture to certified organic status.
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Another $25,000 is pledged to “local food” programs.
A further $225,000 over three years is pledged to the provincial aboriginal and northern affairs department for a Northern Health Food Initiative.
Under that initiative, the department would develop a range of food self-sufficiency projects in remote communities, thus lowering those communities’ reliance on freight shipments of food.
“The high cost of commercial food in remote communities is a significant obstacle to good nutrition,” said Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk in a release Monday. “Promoting local food production has the added benefit of lowering transport emissions and helping communities adapt to a changing climate.”
That’s a reference to the northern ice road network, by which goods are hauled into remote communities by truck over frozen lakes. Several northern Manitoba communities have already expressed concern about the shrinking window for ice roads each winter, increasing their reliance on expensive air freight.
Other initiatives in the province’s plan include the planting of five million trees in the next five years, and new funding to expand and promote the use of biomass as a low-carbon alternative to coal energy.
