The union representing workers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and some farming groups are firing back at Ottawa over abrupt job cuts and closures.
The Agriculture Union said Monday the decision to shutter seven of the department's research operations will set the sector back by decades.
“We have been warning the federal government for months about cutting an already-decimated department. There is simply no more room to cut," Milton Dyck, national president of the Agriculture Union, said in a news release.
"While our partner nation to the south is slashing research, we should not be.”
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced last week it is closing seven of its research operations to reduce the size of the public service.
The centres set for closure are in Guelph, Ont., Quebec City and Lacombe, Alta., along with four satellite research farms across Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Established in 1887, the research farms in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia are among Canada's first facilities, the union says.
"The research centres slated for closure were responsible for breakthrough discoveries in sustainable beef production, crop sustainability, food safety and nutrition and no-till farming," it said.
Click here to see more...