Reversing cuts would follow recommendations from the House ag committee
An ag industry organization is calling on the federal government to implement the recommendations the House ag committee tabled in a report on the planned cuts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
“These recommendations confirm what SeedChange — alongside farmers, scientists, and sector leaders — presented to the Committee,” Aabir Dey, director of SeedChange’s Canadian program, said in a statement. “The federal government must act before critical research capacity and field work are lost forever.”
SeedChange is a nonprofit organization supporting seed diversity, public plant breeding, and farmer-led innovation.
The House’s Standing Committee on Agriculture and Food held four meetings, heard from 27 witnesses and received multiple written documents, related to science in Canadian ag and the planned research site closures.
SeedChange participated in this process.
In its report, the committee made 20 recommendations, asking the government to reconsider some of its decisions.
These include the cancelling of the organic and the regenerative program at the Swift Current Research and Development Centre, and the decision to close a CFIA food allergy testing lab in Longueuil, Que.
The committee also recommended the government explore other spending reductions that don’t affect front-line scientists, and to study whether research site closures could contribute to food security.
And witnesses highlighted the ROI Canadian ag receives from ag research.
“We know that every dollar invested in agriculture research returns up to $63. In what other sector would you consider cutting a program with a 6,000% return on investment?” Lacombe County Reeve John Ireland told the committee. “To forgo research and development in a sector that contributes so significantly to Canada's GDP is not finding efficiencies; it is being short-sighted.”
SeedChange welcomes the committee’s report.
But the government must act to preserve important ag research.
“These research facilities and programs are essential to food sovereignty and Canada’s ability to maintain a resilient, public-interest agricultural system, and they must be preserved,” Dey said.
Multiple ag groups called on the government to halt its planned closures once they became public.
In March, more than 20 industry groups wrote to Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald asking for a 24-month pause on this issue.
The cuts to AAFC are part of the prime minister’s goal to reduce overall public spending.
Prime Minister Carney promised in the 2025 federal budget to reduce spending by 15 per cent over three years and asked ministers to identify savings within their portfolios.
In ag, this means winding down programs deemed outside of AAFC’s core mandate and reducing some scientific activities where a more streamlined approach exists.