Western Grains Research Foundation Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Jan 20, 2021

The Western Grains Research Foundation has played a very important role in crop research.

Executive Director Garth Patterson says over the 40 years WGRF has invested over $200 million dollars into crop research in over 550 projects.

Patterson says the organization was started by 12 farm groups back in 1981 with a vision for a robust agricultural research funding organization that would be directed by and for farmers.

"WGRF is committed to the original intent of the founders of the organization, that we would be a western Canadian, multi-crop organization comprised of a diverse membership and working with the sole purpose of funding research to benefit western Canadian crop producers."

Dr. Keith Degenhardt, WGRF Chair, applauds the founding members for getting farmers involved from the outset.

"We are the ones who are on the land experiencing the different challenges, so we have a good feel for where the funding should go in research."

Degenhardt operates a mixed cattle and seed farm at Hughenden, Alberta.

He says it’s important for farmer funded research to be farmer directed because it gives you ownership and responsibility to make investments in research that help farmers."

More than 130 farmers from across Western Canada have served on the WGRF Board over the last 40 years.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.