Transformative Change in Agriculture: The Canadian Wheat Board

National policies must be in the interest of all Canadians. Between the 1920s and 1940s when the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was first being constructed, the export of wheat from the prairies was an essential component of national policy. In the twenty-first century the CWB has no important role in the development policy of western Canada. Its objectives are totally aimed at earning premiums in the market for prairie farmers. The CWB controls a smaller volume of the prairie crop in 2005 than it did in 1948. Given this diminished role for the CWB, does it need to exist at all? How might it be changed in a transformative way, given the present day realities of trade agreements and domestic pressures, so that it operates in the national interest while still maximizing returns for prairie wheat and barley farmers