e-7214 (Agriculture)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• The network of federal agricultural research facilities across the wide range of Canada’s growing conditions is essential to future farm and food system success;
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) plans to close 7 research facilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and the Organic and Regenerative Research Program, and cut the employees and support staff required to carry out agricultural research at these facilities and elsewhere;
• Decisions were made without a) analyzing the value of research programs and facilities, b) consulting any farm organizations, facility or program managers, c) knowing what would be lost, or d) understanding the impact on farmers and agricultural economy;
• The cuts will irreparably harm public plant breeding, the foundation of Canada’s international success;
• The cuts will create critical gaps that cannot be relocated to other facilities or carried out at non-AAFC institutions including: scientific expertise; long-term studies, multi-stage variety development; multi-site variety registration data; organic and regenerative crop and livestock research; and
• The cuts will reduce Canada’s competitiveness, resilience and food security, increase reliance on foreign science and seed, increase costs, and waste decades of public and producer investment.