Agriculture leaders respond to AAFC research facility closures

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The Lacombe Centre has long played a role in crop and livestock research relevant to producers in Alberta and Western Canada and the decision has raised questions about the future of publicly funded agricultural research, regional capacity and collaboration with industry and post secondary institutions. In response to the announcement, we spoke with several leaders in Alberta's agriculture sector to gather their perspectives on what the closure could mean moving forward. Those voices include Darcy Hillgartner with Results Driven Agriculture Research or rdar, Robin Davidson of Lakeland College, Erin Stein with the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, and John Conrad, Assistant Deputy Minister of Primary Agriculture with Alberta Agriculture. Their reactions and insights follow here today with Darcy Hillgartner who's the board chair at aadar. Welcome Darcy, it's great to see you. Always good to see you Amber. Now AFC announced just this past week about closures, some shutdowns with their research stations. What is RDAR's reaction to this? Well, I don't think it's any surprise to Agriculture that there were changes coming within Agriculture and Agre Foods Canada. Obviously the news of the 665 positions across the country and you know, as it affects US producers in Alberta of the 112 positions at Lacombe obviously is a concern. RDAR does do a lot of co funding of projects that were taking place at that facility. At this point we don't know, right? I mean we're, we're willing to, you know, obviously work with AFSC to facilitate that. You know, what can be moved, what can how can we make the best of the situation and figure out the plan forward. But at this point, you know that's, it's a lot of wait and see and figure out what's going on. Do you feel this might be an opportunity for some of the other Research associations to perhaps pick up some scientists or, you know, gather in some of that research. Well, you know, that's always an option, right? I mean, we don't know what's happening with those 112 people. I mean there's some that are probably been offered relocation but you know, that's at their discretion. Right. They get to figure out their own path forward. But you know, obviously we're going to be looking at figuring out along with those organisations what are key positions that we need to keep within the province of Alberta and within Agriculture and going forward with that. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time. And that was Darcy Hilgartner on Real Agriculture here today with Robin Davidson who is a pulse researcher out of Lakeland College. Welcome Robin. It's great to talk to you today. Great to see you too. Thanks Amber. Now, we received news this past week regarding closures with Agriculture and Agri Food Canada, the different research facilities with Lacombe being one of them. What is your initial reaction to this? I think my initial reaction was shocked. That research station in Lacombe has some amazing researchers, some really bright minds doing some very leading edge research to feed the world and in prime agricultural land in the middle of Alberta. So I don't think anybody saw this coming. We knew there'd be cuts but we really didn't think that they would completely shut it down. So the reaction is a mix of emotions, a little bit of shock, a little bit of, you know, obviously, you know, a little bit angry, a little bit frustrated, but also just a little bit kind of sad and a little bit of what next. How will this closure impact your work? Well, as a pulse researcher with Lakeland College I am housed. So my offices, my labs and all the work that I do is based at the research centre in Lacombe. So I have relied quite heavily on, like I said, the really bright minds there to kind of collaborate, the infrastructure there, the support staff and that general area that has helped me be successful in my research programme and I would say has made my research programme better because of those people and because of that support. So yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be different. Going to be different. Do you know yet where your offices will be moving, what research is going to look like going forward? I don't think anybody knows that right now, Amber. I certainly don't. I think right now we just kind of take it day by day and see what happens over the next little while and kind of figure it out. But yeah, it's going to be a challenge for the entire community of Lacombe to try to adjust to this. I'm not sure what it's going to look like. Well, I want to thank you so much for your time. That was Robin Davidson on Real Agriculture, Erin Stein, who's the executive director of Alberta Federation of Agriculture. Welcome, Erin, it's great to talk to you. Hey, Amber, great to talk to you. Now, AFC has announced that there will be multiple shutdowns of different research facilities as well as a reduction in employees. There's been a broad announcement. What is the reaction coming from the Alberta Federation of Agriculture? Well, we understand that Prime Minister Carney and Minister McDonald have a mandate to look at cutting spending and within that certain programmes have to be cut. We're very disappointed to hear that cuts are being made to Western Canadian innovation. These research centres have been at the heart of innovation, enabling crop and crop diversity in Western Canada, specifically for different soil types. So the cuts come in a vacuum and I guess where we're most concerned is the justification for the cuts. Really no clarity or line of sight to what happens with lines that are being developed and the research that was done. So, you know, historically speaking, every dollar invested into research has taken $10 economic impact. And it's frustrating to hear that on a federal level. We keep trumpeting that agriculture is of critical importance to Canada and our growth and then to see the dismantling and the erosion of the institutions that provide that innovation is really disheartening. So we've put out a press release this morning, strongly worded, condemning the actions from Ottawa. We'd like to see a complete halt and reversal of this and consultation with producers and producer groups to ensure that we have continued viability and continued resilience in our innovation pipeline as it pertains to Western Canadian dry land agriculture. What would your recommendations be for future decisions of this nature? Understanding there's a short fuse and timeline, I think consultations with general farm organisations, easy to get us all in a room together as well as specific crop groups to look at ways of perhaps shifting some of that research, but also pressure testing some of the assumptions maybe they have at the federal government. That's being done in a vacuum and how that trickles down. The impacts of this decision are won't be felt immediately on the farm, they will in the labs. But this has the real ability to cripple us, the next generation and subsequent generations when we look at innovation. And really far too much is happening on the private scale where we're seeing the BASFs and the Bayers of the world stepping in to fulfil those roles. Whereas the primary research is being done in these facilities is critical to our understanding of what we need in western Canada. Well, thank you so much for your time. And that was Erin Stein on Real Agriculture getting to talk with John Conrad, who's the Assistant Deputy Minister of Primary Agriculture in Alberta. Welcome, John. It's great to see you. Well, thank you. It's always good to be here at Crossroads having great conversations. Now there has been some news this week coming out of Ottawa regarding the shutdowns of a number of research stations and Agriculture and Agro Food Canada announced it. So what is the Alberta government's reaction to this? Yes, well, thank you for that. We're very concerned about that announcement and its implications for agricultural research. I think that's fair to say at the top. I think the other thing I would need to say is it's very early days not only for the Alberta government to absorb this and for the Minister to absorb it, but also for our federal colleagues. I was able to speak with some of them yesterday at the executive level and they're very focused on the men and women in Guelph and in Lacombe specifically that are impacted. I was really happy to hear that. The downside of that is they haven't talked or thought very much yet about transitioning all of those vital aspects of their programming that we're keenly interested in and in some cases our co investors in. So I think the position of the Alberta government is one of maximum curiosity. We've communicated concern, a desire to collaborate with our federal colleagues and to optimise as much as possible on the way forward in terms of what is the shape of things to come in Lacombe, knowing that we have our own budgetary headwinds, we have our own western crop innovations that the Alberta government does put public money into, along with industry members. So there are many, many conversations to be had. So I guess to summarise, it's early, we're concerned, we're actively talking and we'll do our very best to optimise. And lastly, we are very aware of how valuable that long standing entity is and how impactful it is to the men and women in Macomb and their families that have been impacted. And as you mentioned, it is early days. So see if you can even gear guests towards this way. But is there any chance that Alberta Agriculture would take over some of the research projects that have been going through the Lacombe station? I would, I want to refrain from speculating. As I said, we are co invested on some of the projects there. We are very interested in the work. We profit from some of the services that are delivered by that entity. A lot of services and variety registration, for example, like speaking so badly about Western crop innovation a moment ago. But I think it would be far too premature for me to even speculate about us taking that on. We, as I said a moment ago, we do have our own budgetary headwinds here in Alberta with our provincial budget. I think some time and some conversations need to flow before I could even make an educated guess. And that was John Conrad on real agriculture. Thank you.