New investment of excess railway revenue will benefit western Canadian farmers by helping to shore up one of the region's longest standing and most innovative crop research funds.

The Endowment Fund, administered by Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), will receive an injection of $124,650 from Canadian National Railway, based on revenue received by the railway in 2005 that was in excess of the Western Grain Revenue Cap. The Endowment Fund is used to support a variety of crops research to benefit western Canadian farmers.

"The Endowment Fund has played an important role over the years by supporting research that is important to farmers but that likely wouldn't receive adequate funding from other sources," says Dr. Keith Degenhardt, a Hughenden, Alta., producer and Chair of the farmer-run WGRF. "It was the first private fund to support Fusarium and wheat midge research in Western Canada, before they became established as major long-term challenges. That has led to progress that will save farmers multi-millions in reduced crop damage and input costs, and that's just one example among many. The railway funds are a welcome support to this effort."

The Endowment Fund base of $9 million in producer funds was established in 1983, when these funds were transferred by the federal government from the discontinued Prairie Farm Assistance Act, a forerunner of today's crop insurance program. WGRF has allocated the annual interest generated by this Fund - $750,000 to $1 million in peak years - into crops research projects.

The excess railway funds will be added to the Endowment Fund principle, says Lanette Kuchenski, WGRF Executive Director. Last year, WGRF received $338,008 from Canadian Pacific Railway.

The allocations WGRF has received the past two years are the first allocated under new Canada Transportation Act legislation passed in 2001, says Kuchenski.

"When the Act was implemented, the federal government, with input from the railways and the agriculture industry, needed to decide what to do with the money if there was an overage on the cap," she says. "The funding is farmer money, but there was no practical or fair way to return those dollars to individual producers. They identified the WGRF Endowment Fund as a good solution, due to low administrative cost, strong investment value and the ability to benefit all western Canadian crop producers equally.

"The WGRF Board agreed to accept this arrangement and, as it does with all Endowment Fund investments, to invest the funds generated in crop research projects deemed of greatest investment value and benefit to crop producers."

All Endowment Fund funding decisions are made by the WGRF Board, which is made up of representatives of 18 diverse agricultural organizations representing the majority of producers across the Prairies. This includes western Canadian producer groups representing wheat, barley, oat, flax, pulse and canola; general farm organizations; former co-op grain handlers; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Wheat Board.

The most recent new research supported by the Endowment Fund is a project at the University of Saskatchewan to aid the development of canola varieties with genetic resistance to new strains of blackleg, the most important disease challenge of the crop.

Easy-to-scan "Research Reports" for farmers on each of the more than 200 Endowment Fund projects supported since 1983 are available on the WGRF Web site.