Canada's grain industry success through research will depend on farmers speaking loudly and firmly on direction, to anchor national progress, says a grain research leader.

"The fundamental route for success lies in the continuity of those who are actually the producers of the products you're selling," says Dr. Bill Scowcroft, Director of the Canadian Grain Commission's Grain Research Laboratory. "Success comes from an industry putting together a strategy for the future, and working towards that strategy with long-term continuity. If your strategy is driven by the government of the day, you may not have the continuity you need for long-term success. Producers have to really be, part and parcel, the drivers of their future."

Producers' role has never been more important, says Scowcroft, who has watched the ebb and flow of global grains competition from a high perch both in Canada and Australia - Canada's major grains production competitor. Australia has made a dramatic investment in research over the past 10 to 15 years through the heavily grower-driven Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), and is threatening to overtake Canada in key areas such as variety superiority.

"It was the producers who really got behind the Grains Research and Development Corporation when it was instituted," says Scowcroft. "And they're the ones continually pushing it forward."

Scowcroft's view of what Canada faces and the attitude needed to ward off the Australian challenge is the subject of a feature article available in the October edition of Western Grains Research Magazine, now on the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) Web site. Western Canadian wheat and barley growers are major investors in breeding research through the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds, administered by WGRF. The Research Magazine offers "Ideas and issues for farmer research investors."

During Canada's recent federal election campaign, beyond token mentions of the BSE crisis, rural voters were hard pressed to find any mention of agricultural issues or policy. But perhaps equally troubling was the relative silence from agricultural producer groups, observes Scowcroft.

"As someone in this business, I was looking very hard for statements about agriculture policy from the various parties and, at the same time, for statements from the producer community. What I didn't see was the producer community saying to the government: 'this is what we need.' In the little bit I did hear, they were saying, 'what are you going to give us.' In my opinion, that's the wrong attitude."

A much better approach would be producers having a clear, self-driven strategy for what they want to achieve and how they want government to fit in with that strategy, he says. "I would like to have seen agricultural producers from the various commodity sectors saying: 'This is what we need. If you want our vote, this is what you've got to do.'"

Australia recently unveiled a document titled "Toward a Single Vision for the Australian Grain Industry, 2005-2025," which was developed by the Grains Council of Australia and the GRDC and is rapidly moving toward what it calls an integrated "whole value-chain system."

One area where Canada has pursued its own national vision is through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Agricultural Policy Framework (APF). Scowcroft sees this as the right idea coming from the wrong end of the spectrum.

"My hope is that APF is the beginnings of the type of national vision we need. But where APF is lacking at this stage is full participation and commitment from producers - it's government driven, not producer driven. I think we have to do whatever we can in Canada to try and turn that around, where we get the producer driving the agenda and the government coming in to support that agenda."

With a showdown in grains research set to re-define the competitive balance in global grains markets and other key agricultural sectors, he says, that turnaround can't come quickly enough.