Canadian Wheat Board
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The Canadian Wheat Board (known at times as the Canada Wheat Board) was established by the Parliament of Canada in 1935 as a producer marketing system for wheat and barley.
It is governed by a 15-person Board of Directors. Ten of the directors are elected by grain farmers in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Four of the directors are appointed by the federal Minister of Agriculture. The President of the Board is appointed by the Governor in Council, which, in its practical effect, means by the Prime Minister of Canada.
The purpose of the Wheat Board is to make a level playing field for all producers. The farmers deliver their grain in accordance with regulated schedules. The Board acts as a marketing agent on behalf of all farmers. Farmers receive an interim payment and a final payment depending on the overall sales and prices. This is in effect a pooled selling system that benefits farmers by ensuring a predictable cash flow, a pooled price and, if necessary, a government guarantee if the Board's market forecasts do not meet expectations.
Although the Board was reformed to meet free market conditions under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization Treaty, American producers continually complain. Despite numerous challenges and much posturing by the United States, the World Trade Organization ruled in 2003 that the Wheat Board was a producer marketing body and not a system for government subsidy, although the decision has since been overturned. In fact Canadian producers have almost no government subsidy while their American and European Union counterparts are heavily subsidized. The attacks on the Wheat Board are one of the major irritants in bilateral relations between Canada and the United States.
External links
- Canadian Wheat Board (http://www.cwb.ca)