Canadian Wheat Board : The Canadian federal government's involvement in the marketing of prairie wheat began in World War I with the creation of the Board of Grain Supervisors in 1917 to act as an intermediary between producers and the buying agency for the Allied Government. This was followed in 1919 by a government board bearing the name of the Canadian Wheat Board to market wheat during the uncertain economic conditions at the end of the First World War. Its operations ceased in 1920.
During the Depression of the 1930s, extremely low grain prices and the hardship to producers that this caused prompted the federal government to pass the Canadian Wheat Board Act of 1935, establishing the Canadian Wheat Board. Under its provisions, the Canadian Wheat Board was given the monopoly of marketing Western Canadian wheat in interprovincial and international markets on the behalf of prairie farmers. In 1949, the Canadian Wheat Board's jurisdiction was extended to oats and barley produced in the area designated by the Act. The marketing of oats was subsequently removed from the Canadian Wheat Board in 1989. The Canadian Wheat Board also administers the Prairie Grain Advance Payments Act pursuant to which advance payments are made to producers undertaking to deliver wheat and barley as quotas permit.
As a crown agency, The Canadian Wheat Board is accountable to the federal government, which sets the level of the producer's initial payment each year and guarantees that payment through the federal treasury. The Canadian Wheat Board reports to Parliament through a designated federal minister.
The operations of the Canadian Wheat Board, headquartered in Winnipeg, are entirely financed by the proceeds of its sales of Western Canadian grain. Three to five full-time Commissioners, appointed by federal cabinet based on their experience in the grain industry, are responsible for the overall operations of the Wheat Board, including policies, sales and pricing decisions. Four main executive branches -- Finance, Marketing, Planning and Human Resources -- report directly to the Board, as does the Corporate Secretary and General Counsel.
The Board of Commissioners meets monthly with an eleven-member Advisory Committee elected by producers from the grain-growing area of Western Canada to provide farmer input into the operations of the Canadian Wheat Board.
