Canadian wheat and barley associations recognized

Western Canada’s wheat and barley associations are being recognized for the role they play in producer funding of public breeding in delivering new crop varieties.

Public research institutions have provided over 200 new wheat and barley varieties since 1995 when producers started investing in breeding. On average, every producer dollar invested into varieties of wheat research returns $20.40 in value to the producer. Barley research had a return of $7.56 for each dollar invested.

The participating organizations include the Alberta Barley Commission, the Alberta Wheat Commission, the British Columbia Grain Producers Association, the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association, the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, the Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission and Winter Cereals Manitoba. The Western Grains Research Foundation is the facilitator.

In a report this year, the working group engaged JRG Consulting Group for the exploration of opportunities in producer leadership in wheat and barley. It emphasizes the importance of investment in both the private and public sectors for the development of variety research in wheat and barley. Participating organizations are encouraging farmers to obtain the JRG Consulting Group report and provide comments.