Farmers Receive $33 for Every Dollar Invested in Wheat Breeding

A new study is showing that for every dollar invested in wheat breeding western Canadian farmers receive nearly $33 in return, a March 21 news release says.

The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC), which includes the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, Alberta Wheat Commission, and Manitoba Crop Alliance, along with the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), and the Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission (SWCDC), completed a study in 2021 looking at the benefits of wheat breeding investments by western Canadian producers over the past 27 years.

The release notes the three farmer-led crop commissions comprising CWRC receive funding through mandatory but refundable producer levies on grain sold. The commissions contribute a large portion of their budgets towards innovative research on farmers’ behalf.

“This study clearly indicates that farmer investment in public breeding programs is working and is providing substantive returns to farmers,” Fred Greig, chair of the CWRC and Manitoba Crop Alliance representative, says in the release. “Current information will allow CWRC and wheat commissions the ability to affirm our investment strategy and/or adjust it to better utilize farmers’ hard-earned dollars.”

The CWRC, WGRF, and SWCDC worked with Richard Gray and Katarzyna Bolek-Callbeck to update the previous studies that examined wheat farmers’ return on investment (ROI) for wheat varietal development, the release says.

The release notes only yield improvements were considered when calculating the benefits to farmers to keep the estimate as conservative as possible. Including other traits such as improved insect and disease resistance would have further increased ROI but are dependent on specific environmental conditions and are difficult to assess. Improvements in agronomic practices over the same period were also not included in the final ROI estimates.

“Our measure is conservative because we don’t include many other potential benefits. It does provide a very defendable estimate because we can measure it accurately,” Gray says in the release. “Wheat yields are something that everybody sees. They understand that the new varieties are better than the older varieties, yielding better, and improved yields are the key trait that delivers value back to the producer.”

The release says the report also outlines that varietal development investments have a trickle-down benefit to all of society, with taxpayers reaping the returns, as well.