Agriculture 2012, 2(4), 436-451; doi:10.3390/agriculture2040436
Article

The Policy Objectives of a Biofuel Industry in Canada: An Assessment

Danny G. Le Roy* email and Kurt K. Kleinemail
Department of Economics, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 October 2012; in revised form: 5 November 2012 / Accepted: 10 December 2012 / Published: 17 December 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofuels, Food Security, and Accompanying Environmental Concerns)
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Abstract: Canada has a huge stock of biomass resources, which provides a basis (and a temptation) for development of a major bio-fuels industry. Both federal and provincial governments have engaged in a wide array of subsidies, mandates, and other measures to stimulate production and consumption of biofuels. As a result, biofuels has become a growth industry in Canada with production of ethanol almost 10 times higher than it was ten years earlier. However, this has come at considerable cost to taxpayers. Increased biofuel production has resulted in minimal reduction in greenhouse gases, short run (but not long run) increases in net farm income (that benefited grain and oilseed producers but hurt livestock producers), large increases in the prices of farm land due to the higher grain and oilseed prices, and minimal impacts on rural economic diversification.
Keywords: biofuel; Canada; policy; economics

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MDPI and ACS Style

Le Roy, D.G.; Klein, K.K. The Policy Objectives of a Biofuel Industry in Canada: An Assessment. Agriculture 2012, 2, 436-451.

AMA Style

Le Roy DG, Klein KK. The Policy Objectives of a Biofuel Industry in Canada: An Assessment. Agriculture. 2012; 2(4):436-451.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Le Roy, Danny G.; Klein, Kurt K. 2012. "The Policy Objectives of a Biofuel Industry in Canada: An Assessment." Agriculture 2, no. 4: 436-451.

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