Western Wheat Breeding Core Support Agreement

Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is a farmer-funded and farmer-directed non-profit organization investing in agricultural research that benefits western Canadian farmers. Since 1995, WGRF and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) have collaborated on western wheat and barley variety development, through a series of collaborative agreements stating contributions of the parties and shared goals. The objective is to provide mutual financial and technical support and to facilitate the development of wheat and barley varieties for Western Canadian farmers with higher yields, improved agronomic traits, end-use properties, and better disease and insect resistance. The investment of WGRF relies on check-off payments of farmers in several provinces of western Canada on wheat and barley sold. This money is reinvested in the development of new wheat and barley varieties at AAFC. Farmers are part of the decision-making committee responsible to identify the needs of new varieties and traits creating economic, social or environmental be¬nefits. New varieties may be offered for testing purposes to farm¬ers who contribute to their evaluation. Key outcomes of the collaboration are wheat and barley varieties that are adapted to various agroecological zones ‒ more than 150 since 1996 ‒ and several research projects focusing on sustainable use of PGRFA.