The fetal condition of Western Canada’s farmer-funded wheat commissions gives them a chance to evolve and find ways to work together, say the leaders.
While there are political differences between the provincial commissions, there many ways on which they can work together, including agronomy extension.
“We’re not just looking provincially,” said Brent VanKoughnet, executive director of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association.
“We’re all looking at how we develop a regional view and how do we pool those resources in a way that strengthens the Western Canadian profitability of wheat and barley.”
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Interviews with the three provincial organizations show all three commissions think there could be co-operation beyond funding joint research projects and variety development, with agronomy advice and extension being a key area of interest.
“There’s a realization by everybody in the wheat industry that agronomy has suffered over a long period of time,” said Bill Gehl, chair of Sask-atchewan Wheat Development Commission.
“We’re looking at a western Canadian approach and will be working with the other commissions and the Western Grains Research Foundation going forward.”
Tom Steve, general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission, said his board is interested in improving agronomy support to farmers.
“How do we better leverage our check-off dollars towards research, applied research and extension programs,” said Steve.
“The model hasn’t been built yet.”
The WGRF highlighted weaknesses in agronomy support for farmers in a recent report and all three commissions say they think they could help. But how to do it isn’t settled.
Each provincial government has agriculture department agronomy extension specialists, some companies have agronomy advisers and some companies do little but offer agronomy consulting and advice.
Some industry organizations hire their own agronomists to work with farmers. The Canola Council of Canada operates a prairie network of specialists and advisers.
Some provincial organizations like Manitoba Pulse Growers and Manitoba Corn Growers have an in-house agronomy adviser to help with farmer concerns.
Other farmer and commodity organizations have no agronomy advisers of their own, but rely on agriculture department and company specialists to help farmers with production queries.
“I think there’s debate about (how) our commissions and grower organizations will do agronomy work and to what extent we’ll work with public institutions . . . and private players,” said VanKoughnet. “Will we have to build some of our own capacity?”
With Alberta’s commission just nearing its third birthday and Sask-atchewan’s and Manitoba’s younger still, developing an agronomy approach is slow work.
For now, the greatest concern is ensuring that research doesn’t get disrupted or slump once the Western Canadian Wheat and Barley deduction ends in 2017. That is quickly approaching and helping push the three commissions together, some of their leaders said.
