Members of the Western Barley Growers Association have once again put their dreams of an open market for barley into a resolution at the organization’s annual meeting.
The resolution passed but a shift in focus is occurring, said the president.
“We have taken the position that we are going to work on what works best for barley,” said Brian Otto in Calgary Feb. 12.
“We are not going to go out and bash wheat board supporters. That is non-productive.”
Read Also
Government, industry seek canola tariff resolution
Governments and industry continue to discuss how best to deal with Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, particularly canola.
Instead, the association has decided to work with the board to revise complicated marketing programs like Cash Plus.
“We feel that is what we can do as a producer organization. We can provide a service and sit down with the board and explain where it can be improved,” he said.
A greater issue looms with shrinking research dollars and a government attitude that the private sector should handle more variety and value added development. The growers passed three resolutions urging the federal government to add an extra $28 million per year for the next decade for breeding and agronomy research.
“The inflationary impact on research is becoming more evident every year. What we are witnessing now is going to be quite a few research scientists are retiring and it is going to be more difficult to fill these positions,” Otto said.
Finding young scientists interested in plant breeding is a challenge and commodity groups need to promote that aspect of research or offer scholarships. The Alberta Barley Commission funds a research chair at the University of Alberta and supports the Lacombe crop development centre.
“Breeding research is not the glossy, attractive thing for young people going to university now, so we have to create an environment that will attract young students that want to go into that area.
“The focus today in research is on value adding and that is where everybody wants to go. We have to do research in value adding but I always come back to the point that you have to be able to grow something in order to add value to it,” Otto said.
Another resolution supported the industry’s malt barley research initiative to support barley breeding and agronomy research under the Developing Innovative Agri-products Initiative.
