A Review and Evaluation of Fossil Energy and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Canadian Agriculture

This paper describes the history of farm mechanization in Canada and the CO2 emissions from farm energy. Tractor sizes increased steadily from 1920 to 1975, then leveled off after 1981. Canadian farms changed from one tractor for every ten farms following World War I to almost three tractors per farm by 2001. Simulation was used to compare two Canadian model farms. While the larger Saskatchewan farm generated more fossil CO2 than the Ontario farm, it used energy less intensively. Another simulation showed that tractors vastly out work horses and emit less GHG on a unit of work basis. Roughly four times as many Prairies farmers owned tractors exceeding 75kW as farmers in Quebec and Ontario. Total CO2 emissions from Canadian agriculture increased 11% between 1981 and 2001. Chemical N-fertilizer rose sharply while machinery-related fossil energy declined.