Closing Guelph facility will set food research ‘back by decades’: union

With an eye on reducing the federal workforce, officials are set to shut down the Guelph Research and Development Centre on Stone Road.

Though the closure remains a year away, employee notices have already been delivered. This sparked a critical reaction from the Agriculture Union which represents workers there and at other facilities impacted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) decision.

Several other locations across the country face a similar fate.

“These cuts will sabotage important gains we’ve made in agricultural research and set research on Canadian food products back by decades,” said Milton Dyck, the union’s national president, in a news release. “We have been warning the federal government for months about cutting an already-decimated department. There is simply no more room to cut.”

Three research and development facilities are set to close, including the one at 93 Stone Rd. W., along with four satellite research farms, confirmed AAFC spokesperson Cameron Newbigging. In all, about 665 jobs will be lost.