The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC) announced it's inaugural executive last week.

The group's first chair will be Alberta farmer Terry Young.

The CWRC is made up of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association, the Alberta Wheat Commission, and the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission. The formation of the Coalition follows the recent shift to a single wheat check-off, and the end of the Western Canadian Deduction (WCD).

Young, who is also a director for the Alberta Wheat Commission, says the WCD levy which western farmers paid went to the Western Grains Research Foundation.

"We felt that as wheat commissions were becoming established, the Alberta Wheat Commission the first, and then Sask Wheat, and then Manitoba shortly thereafter, we felt that since wheat growers from the Prairies were footing the bill, why not have it all controlled by farmers of the wheat commissions."

The CWRC is a collaborative approach to producer funding of wheat research projects.

"I look at it from the point of view of 'we are there for farmers'. We are there to bring about farmer driven investment in wheat variety research, and that can also be in agronomy research."

There are many wheat breeding facilities across Canada, which are funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Coalition's job is to facilitate long-term investments aimed at improving profitability and competitiveness for Canadian wheat farmers by choosing which projects to fund.

The organization elected the first executive from it's Board of Directors made up of eight farmers, which includes Cale Jefferies and Dylan Wiebe of Manitoba.

The CWRC says they will be looking to expand their membership to include other organizations who share their goals.