The Western Grains Research Foundation is set to receive almost 2.7 million dollars.

The money is coming in as a result of the railways (CN and CP) exceeding their maximum grain revenue entitlements for the 2017-2018 crop year.

Executive Director Garth Patterson says it’s a double edged sword for producers because it means they overpaid for transportation, however, what WGRF does is put the funds into crop research that will benefit Western Canadian Farmers.

“We fund research all the way from southern Manitoba up to the Peace River in British Columbia and everywhere in-between. We work with a number of the Crop Commissions, Provincial Governments and the Federal Government to co-fund research. Areas that we focus in on for crop research are variety development and agronomy. We’re currently funding research in about 20 different crops across Canada and that’s about 250 projects right now.”

Overall, the WGRF invests over $15 million dollars annually into breeding and field crop research.