Arrell Family Foundation donates $20 million to the school
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A multimillion dollar donation to the University of Guelph will help the school strengthen its reputation as one of Canada’s agri-food leaders.
The Arrell Family Foundation gifted $20 million to U of G. The funds will be used to create the Arrell Food Institute, a facility designed to bring together the latest in research, agricultural experience, data, environmental science and business.
“This gift will help U of G and Canada to lead the agri-food revolution,” Prof. Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security, said in a release. “The same technologies that created the Internet and are transforming medicine are now being applied to farmers’ fields and to food processing factories…”
Part of the investment will help create six annual graduate scholarships worth $50,000 each, as well as an annual conference designed to bring in global food experts.
The agricultural community took to social media to celebrate the donation.
“Congratulations to the (University of Guelph) and thank you to the Arrell family for their commitment to agri-food innovation,” Ontario Minister of Agriculture Jeff Leal said on Twitter.
“The new Arrell Food Institute – Such great news for (the University of Guelph), Canada and the world!” Jenna Hennessy said.
“I’m glad I attended the important announcement of the Arrell Food Institute!” David Johnston, Canada’s Governor General, said.
Tony Arrell and his wife Anne are both University of Guelph graduates. The couple announced the donation along with their daughters Laura, Ashleigh and Nicole.