Applications for carbon tax relief grants for the 2019 production year for eligible commercial greenhouse operators are now open and will be accepted until March 29, 2019.

Commercial producers of B.C. vegetables, ornamental flowers and plants, forest seedlings and nursery plants are eligible to apply for the grant, providing they:

• had sales exceeding $20,000 in 2018;
• used natural gas or propane to heat their greenhouses or produce CO2; and
• had a production area greater than 455 square metres.

Cannabis is not an eligible crop at any phase of production including propagation. The grant covers 80% of the carbon tax that commercial greenhouse growers of eligible crops paid on the natural gas and propane they used for greenhouse heating and CO2 production in 2018.

The greenhouse sector supplies British Columbians with fresh vegetables for about 10 months of the year on about 300 hectares of land. Over 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse vegetables are grown per year, including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, lettuce and others. B.C.’s floriculture and nursery industries grow more than 80 million cut flowers and over 50 million potted plants a year.

Application information, criteria, packages, a survey and e-forms are available at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/programs/greenhouse-carbon-tax-relief-grant

The Ministry of Agriculture expects the processing and completion of applications, and the grants to be issued, by June 2019.