WINNIPEG — Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl ventured into not-altogether-friendly territory Monday, meeting with officials from the Canadian Wheat Board -- an institution whose monopoly he plans to take away.

"What I said to the wheat board's board of directors is the same thing that I've been saying publicly ... that our campaign promise was to move toward dual marketing,'' Strahl told reporters after the get-together.

But Strahl also said his controversial plan to let western farmers market their wheat without going through the board won't happen in the near future.

"I don't anticipate any quick changes to the Canadian Wheat Board, and certainly not without lots of consultation with both farmers and the wheat board.''

Wheat board chairman Ken Ritter said the meeting was a chance to get to know the new minister following last month's election.

"(Strahl) is obviously an intelligent man who is interested in his file and certainly appears to have a desire to do the best he possibly can for Canadian farmers,'' Ritter said.

Structural changes to the wheat board would require the Conservative minority government to get opposition support for the necessary legislation, so Ritter feels any changes could be a long way off.

Farm groups are split over the Conservatives' campaign promise to allow western farmers to choose whether to export their wheat through the board or independently.

Some feel they could get better prices on their own, and point out that Ontario wheat farmers are not forced to go through the board.

But others, including the National Farmers Union, say an experiment with a voluntary board in the 1930s hurt producers and led to lower prices.

The issue is going to be discussed at a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers, which Strahl has tentatively set for March 20.

Strahl also met Monday with Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk _ another supporter of the wheat board monopoly.

Wowchuk said she also discussed disaster relief with Strahl -- specifically the idea of having the government respond to a farm crisis in the same way it would address a natural disaster.

"In other disaster situatio.. there's an emergency measure

Strahl agreed that income assistance programs don't adequately respond to the massive damage caused by disasters such as the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in 2003.

The Conservatives have promised to set up a separate disaster relief program, and Strahl said details will be discussed with his provincial counterparts at the March meeting.

"I hope that we can get a consensus on that and when I do get a consensus, I'm to bring that forward to the federal cabinet for approval and consideration,'' Strahl said.