The head office will move to Calgary next year
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Several Monsanto employees could be out of work next year.
Bayer, which finalized its acquisition of Monsanto in a US$63-billion deal in June, has decided to close Monsanto’s Canadian head office in Winnipeg, Man. Bayer will move that workload to its Canadian headquarters in Calgary, Alta.
The official move will happen in Sept. 2019. The company will have until then to decide the fate of its 71 Winnipeg employees.
“We’re still waiting for the final organizational structure of the combined organization to be released before we can really take a good look and (see) what roles are available,” Trish Jordan, public and industry affairs director with Bayer Crop Science, told CBC today.
The decision to move the office came down to several factors including taxes, available space and employee relocation.
Economic development groups in Calgary and Winnipeg pitched Bayer on why it should stay or move.
“We knew it was a tough battle for us. But YES! Winnipeg put together a really impressive package to say why Winnipeg was a great choice for Bayer,” Dayna Spring, CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg, which oversees YES! Winnipeg, told the Winnipeg Free Press yesterday.
Monsanto’s head office is located at the University of Manitoba’s Smartpark. The university also tried to encourage the company to remain in Manitoba.
“I know (the university’s staff) are big advocates for innovation and technology and they want to see these sorts of roles and jobs in Winnipeg and in the province,” Jordan told CBC.
In addition to the head office, Monsanto runs research facilities in Winnipeg, Headingley and Carman. No decisions on those facilities have been made yet, Jordan said.