The ministry has committed to provide funding for the salaries and benefits of the Strategic Research Program chairs for a five-year period. This commitment assures stable funding to facilitate the recruitment and retention of the best research personnel. The chairs are responsible for attracting project funding from programs offered by public and private sectors to support their respective research program.
To provide focus, the ministry has developed a program framework for each chair to define the area of research and key deliverables. Based on the program framework, the ministry and each chair created a five-year research plan. The five-year research plan is used to identify and highlight research activities that will be undertaken in each year of the contract. Each chair provides an annual report for review by a program management team with representation from the ministry and the research institution where the position is housed.
| Crop Genetic Improvement | |
| Durum and High-Yield Wheat Breeding and Genetics | Dr. Curtis Pozniak |
| CWRS Wheat, Specialty Wheats and Canaryseed Breeding and Genetics | Dr. Pierre Hucl |
| Cereal and Flax Crop Pathology | Dr. Randy Kutcher |
| Barley and Oat Breeding and Genetics | Dr. Aaron Beattie |
| Flax Breeding and Genetics | Dr. Helen Booker |
| Field Pea Breeding and Genetics | Dr. Tom Warkentin |
| Pulse Crop Pathology | Dr. Sabine Banniza |
| Livestock Development | |
| Forage Crops Breeding | Dr. Bill Biligetu |
| Feed Research and Development | Dr. Peiqiang Yu |
| Cow-Calf and Forage Systems | Dr. Bart Lardner |
| Food and Bioproducts Development | |
| Lipid Quality and Utilization | Dr. Martin Reaney |
| Protein Quality and Utilization | Dr. Michael Nickerson |
| Soils and Environment | |
| Soil Biological Processes | Dr. Diane Knight & Dr. Richard Farrell (shared) |
| Soil Nutrient Management | Dr. Jeff Schoenau |
The Strategic Research Program was introduced in 1986 through a series of five-year agreements.