The battle over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board has split along political lines and pitted farmers who want marketing choice against those who think the current system works well.

The Conservative government's promise during the last federal election to give farmers the choice to sell through the board or on the open market was made in response to complaints from Alberta's provincial government on behalf of Alberta farmers who want the monopoly to end.

Under the current system, grain farmers in western Canada -- the CWB doesn't cover farmers in Ontario and Quebec -- must sell any wheat and barley intended for human consumption in Canada or for export to the board, which then sells it.

The term for it is "single-desk selling." There is another key concept called "price pooling," in which farmers who sell their wheat, durum and barley to the board in a given crop year all get the same price for the same grade.

Farmers can sell their grain on their own through what's called the "producer-direct sales" process. That involves selling their wheat to the board then buying it back before selling it to a customer in the U.S.. There are other ways the board has attempted to increase marketing flexibility.

Many farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan say the board, which is one of the world's biggest grain marketers, is working.

"Who'd have my vote next election? The man who is going to stand there and say he's going to support the Wheat Board," farmer John Morrison told CTV News.

Newly minted Liberal leader Stephane Dion stepped up this week to promise exactly that.

"If Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper succeeds in destroying the Canadian Wheat Board ... I as a prime minister will reinstate the board," Dion told reporters earlier this week.

Those who oppose the board's monopoly, however, want the right to sell on the open market if they choose.

With farmers able to use tools like the Internet to market their own grain and look for the best prices, proponents of change say the wheat board prevents farmers from getting the best possible return for themselves.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government wants to end the monopoly and allow producers to sell their grain themselves or to the board.

Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl said all his government is trying to do is provide grain producers with more choice.

"We are trying to give Western Canadian (grain) farmers the same rights that any other farmer in the rest of Canada has, the right to market their own products the way they see fit," he said.

Strahl noted that prices and demand are the highest they've been in 10 years, and farmers stand to make a larger profit on the open market.

The minister said farmers would be consulted through a plebiscite.

However, he also said earlier this week that the government was going to move to an open market choice for barley, and told the board to prepare for that "to maximize returns for farmers."

To implement his plan, critics say Strahl is getting rid of those who oppose it.

Board president and chief executive officer Adrian Measner told a news conference on Tuesday that he had received a letter from Strahl that said he would be fired if he obeys the law from Parliament that set up the board's mandate instead of getting in line with the government's plan to end the monopoly.

"I have to question if what they are trying to do is right; why they have to go to the extent that they are going," said Measner. "I think it should play out a little smoother than this."

Some wheat growers say giving some farmers choice will cost all of them.

"It takes the power away from farmers more and more," farmer Ernie Steeves told CTV News.

With a report from CTV's Jill Macyshon