The Western Barley Growers Association want $68 million from railway overpayments to go to the Western Grains Research Foundation.
A resolution at the organization’s annual meeting said the money should benefit farmers and the research body is the best place for it.
The money comes from Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, which exceeded their 2007-08 revenue caps. The debate of how to allocate overpayments is in the courts and could take years to resolve, said Lanette Kuchenski, executive director of the research foundation.
The money is being held in trust in case a portion has to be paid back to the railways with interest, Kuchenski told the barley growers at their recent annual meeting in Calgary.
Read Also
Machinery automation runs through 2025 Agritechnica innovation awards
Computer vision and AI processing for farm machinery show up many times in Agritechnica’s 2025 innovation award winners.
It could be a five year process to learn what money is coming to the foundation as the courts mull over the case, she said.
The issue could cause friction among farmers because no one is benefiting from this money, said farmer Leo Meyer.
“This is an issue that is going to divide us and nobody has any use of it. To me as a farmer, that is unacceptable,” he said.
In the countryside, some farmers want the money distributed to individual growers because grain prices are slipping and costs are going up. But the association’s resolution said the foundation is the most effective use of the funds.
It is farmers’ money and it should go to the fund, said Brian Otto, association president.
“It is not going to get squandered if it goes into the endowment fund for WGRF,” he said.
The foundation is supported by farmer levies on wheat and barley sales but it also has a $17 million research endowment fund. The principal is not touched and the interest, amounting to about $700,000 per year, is used to fund research projects.
