The politically-motivated and crisis-inventing Greenpeace has spun another yarn and many mainstream Canadian newspapers reported on it hook, line and sinker.

In mid-January, the environmental activists called on the Canadian government to impose a tax disinsentive on fertilizer use.

"Agriculture is responsible for 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions," Greenpeace whined on its website. So, what? Asks Farmers Forum. Environmental policy analyst Nick Schneider at Canadian think-tank The Fraser Institute told us that 10 per cent of Canada’s total emissions is "uncontroversial" because it is a very small amount on the world scale and, moreover, the evidence is not strong that this correlates with global warming or that there even is global warming. Solar change and natural variability may have more of an affect on temperature than greenhouse gas emissions, he said. Translation: Agriculture may be responsible for 10 per cent of nothing worth worrying about.

As for a tax on fertilizer use to reduce emissions, Schneider noted that emissions are more likely to come from farm machinery and cattle methane. But no one has a hybrid tractor and it’s difficult to capture methane. "It’s a pretty tough sector in which to reduce emissions," he said.