n. — Agriculture, Industry
an association that regulates the marketing and production of a specific commodity, with the goal of increasing consumption in accordance with production quotas.
The term is not exclusive to Canada (see Chart 1), with the term found most often in the US. In Canada, marketing boards are generally called by their specific names, e.g. the Egg Farmers of Canada, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario or the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), the latter of which was established in 1935 as a monopolist, but stripped of its special status in 2012. The CWB is one of the oldest marketing boards in North America and has had, together with select other marketing boards, an important role in the development of the country, especially the western provinces. Marketing boards are, however, not a Canadianism in the present context (Dollinger 2015c), as cultural significance can be argued for only a very few marketing boards, such as the CWB.
Marketing boards can be at either the federal or provincial levels and some boards fall under jurisdiction of both levels of government. In Canada, national legislation that solved the competence issues was established in 1934. See also Canadian Encyclopedia reference, s.v. "Agricultural Marketing Board".
Note that COD-2 labels the term, in contrast to our assessment, "Cdn & Brit."
See also: quota Canadian Wheat Board
- 1925  AGRICULTURAL PROBERS URGE NATIONAL MARKETING BOARD 
- 1934  And what about fish, product of the lake, over which the Department of Fisheries dominates, while the Marketing Board comes under the Minister of Agriculture? British Columbia and Nova Scotia members have found many complications. 
- 1947  I fear, however, that more fundamental freedoms are endangered by proposals now before the Saskatchewan House, such as that to close the Winnipeg Grain Exchange to all futures trading and to establish a grains marketing board with "adequate grower representation;" another to ask Ottawa to enact a federal labor code with standards as high as those in Saskatchewan [...]. 
- 1957  If the present marketing board authority of the Province is arbitrarily exerted upon successive groups of farm producers as it is being upon the tobacco growers, there could be more unrest, turmoil and dissatisfaction in the farm community than periods of depression ever produced. 
- 1968  Another marketing board spokesman, Clair Curtin of Lindsay, from the Ontario Hog Producers Marketing Board, suggested the boards tread carefully. "We don't want to give people grounds for saying we are belligerent." 
- 1987  The $4.6-million shortfall will be shared by the two governments and the marketing board. 
- 1997  Agriculture Canada left that to the marketing board, which is the normal contact point with growers, Mr. Marks said from Delhi, Ont. 
- 2005  A bumper harvest in 2004 combined with declining potato consumption led to a huge North American surplus. In an effort to boost slumping prices, farmers are being told by their marketing boards to destroy -- or "divert," as the industry puts it -- thousands of truckloads of potatoes. 
- 2013  In the 1930s, Lower Mainland crop farmers were facing a price war with U.S. border states shipping produce into B.C. The B.C. government was persuaded to set up a marketing board, thus regulating the business and pricing of product.
This set the stage for unrelenting conflict between Chinese farmers led by Chung Chuck and the "boards" that attempted to control and regulate the price and flow of product to the consumer. The "board" was successful in 1936 in shutting down Chung's sale of potatoes from his home. 
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Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 15 Aug. 2012