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It is governed by a 15-person Board of Directors. Ten of the directors are elected by grain farmers in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta , Saskatchewan and Manitoba . Four of the directors are appointed by the federal Minister Of Agriculture . The President of the Board is appointed by the Governor in Council, which, in its practical effect, means by the Prime Minister Of Canada . The purpose of the Wheat Board is to make a level playing field for all producers. The farmers deliver their grain in accordance with regulated schedules. The Board acts as a Marketing agent on behalf of all Farmer s. Farmers receive an interim payment and a final payment depending on the overall sales and prices. This is in effect a pooled selling system that benefits farmers by ensuring a predictable cash flow, a pooled price and, if necessary, a government guarantee if the Board's market forecasts do not meet expectations. Although the Board was reformed to meet free market conditions under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization Treaty, American producers continually complain. Despite numerous challenges and much posturing by the United States , the World Trade Organization ruled in 2003 that the Wheat Board was a producer marketing body and not a system for government subsidy, although the decision has since been overturned. In fact Canadian producers have almost no government subsidy while their American and European Union counterparts are heavily subsidized. The attacks on the Wheat Board are one of the major irritants in Bilateral Relations between Canada and the United States . The Wheat Board is an example of a legally-enforced Monopsony , as it is the only legal buyer of grain in western Canada. Increasingly in recent years, some farmers and local politicians have expressed their desire to break what is usually referred to as the Canadian Wheat Board's Monopoly on Canadian grain marketing. Some Western Canadian farmers have sold their own grain in the U.S., and wound up in jail - as at this point, Canadian farmers selling their wheat to anyone other than the Wheat Board is illegal. The fact that the Wheat Board primarily markets crops produced in Western Canada whilst its monopoly affects few Eastern Canadian products has become a source of Western Alienation and even Alberta Separatism . In response, the Wheat Board has attempted to offer producers more options in recent years - for example, farmers can now purchase binding Futures Contracts from the Wheat Board that pay them the same price that they would get for their grain in the U.S. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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