The Harper government has given away the Canadian Wheat Board to an American and Saudi Arabian-owned corporation.

The Wheat Board has empowered generations of farmers to earn the best price for their grain -- and it's stood tall as the biggest supporter of Canadian-grown wheat.

This is a sweet deal for the new joint venture, Global Grain Group (G3), which gets the Wheat Board and all its assets -- valued as much as $17 billion -- for free, as long as it makes a $250 million investment in the organization. To add insult to injury, just last year a group of Canadian farmers tried to buy the Wheat Board assets for more than what the company is "buying" it for now, but were refused.

It's time to stand up for Canadian farmers. Save the Wheat Board and reverse this sale.

So much of this story that is heartbreaking. The Wheat Board has led the fight against Monsanto and other corporations trying to undermine our food security. Now that resistance has been gutted.

Around 50,000 Canadians make their living farming wheat. And now those livelihoods are in peril -- Canadian farmers have lost more than $7 billion in less than three years because of supply chain logistics that no longer favour farmers. The historic institution -- formed by farmers for farmers -- is now miles away from its original purpose.

With a federal election coming up in the fall, this is a real opportunity for us to make sure that whoever governs Canada for the next four years will stand up for farmers. To make this an election issue, we need to send a strong message to MPs that we want a government that will stand with Canadian farmers.

Farming is in this country's bones. It's worth fighting for. Here at SumOfUs we've consistently stood up to make sure private corporations don't control our food supply. Earlier this year, we presented the very first SumOfUs shareholder resolution against Monsanto to moderate the company's harmful business practices, such as suing small-scale farmers and governments to protect its seed patents. And this time, we need to stand up to protect our Wheat Board.

Join us in defending one of Canada's oldest democratic institutions. Save the Wheat Board now.

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More information:

SOLD! Canadian Wheat Board no longer quite so Canadian, rabble.ca, April 16, 2015

Investor G3 Global Grain Group to take over wheat board, CBC, April 15, 2015

Why so many farmers miss the wheat board, Globe and Mail, November 27, 2014