The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) announced today it will provide $400,000 to the University of Alberta's new Agri-Food Discovery Place (AFDP), due for completion by spring 2006.

"This investment provides an unprecedented opportunity for the CWB and western Canadian grain farmers to link arms with a world-class education and research institution,"said CWB president and CEO Adrian Measner. "Western Canadian farmers will benefit from the research conducted at Agri-Food Discovery Place because it will result in new value-added opportunities for wheat and barley."

In recognition of the CWB's investment, the facility's grain processing laboratories will be named The Canadian Wheat Board Processing Laboratory. In addition, representatives from the CWB and the Canadian International Grains Institute will be members of the AFDP advisory committee.

Alberta's Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Minister Doug Horner welcomed the additional investment in Agri-Food Discovery Place. "Boosting our province's capacity for agricultural research and development is an ideal way for the Canadian Wheat Board to invest Prairie producer dollars,"he said. "Building a strong research base is one of the key ways we can help our agriculture industry grow.”

Dr. John Kennelly, Dean of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics at the University of Alberta, said the university is delighted the CWB will invest in AFDP. "This facility will contribute significantly to the diversification of the crop industry in Canada by developing value-added food and non-food products that will increase the value of crops for western Canadian farmers.”

AFDP is currently under construction on the U of A campus. It will house two major research centres—the Crop Utilization and Enhanced Materials Research Centre (CUEMRC), and the Meat Safety and Processing Research Centre. CUEMRC will emphasize grain-based, value-added products with health or other benefits.

The CWB's contribution to AFDP will be funded through the CWB's special account, comprised of farmer cheques which have remained uncashed for six years or more.

As well as its contribution of $400,000, the CWB will dedicate to ADFP its existing U of A graduate fellowship. Funding of the fellowship will total up to $58,000 annually. This is in addition to five U of A scholarships totalling $8,250 funded by the CWB.

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less the costs of marketing, to Prairie farmers.