ALBERTA FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE CONDEMNS OTTAWA'S DISMANTLING OF THE SCIENCE THAT FEEDS CANADA: AAFC LAYOFFS WILL PERMANENTLY DAMAGE WESTERN CANADIAN AGRICULTURE
CALGARY, AB, Jan. 27, 2026 /CNW/ - The Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA) is condemning the federal government's decision to eliminate approximately 665 positions at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), with 1,050 employees now having been told their jobs are affected, and to close or significantly reduce operations at seven federal agricultural research facilities -- including research centres and satellite farms -- several of them located in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
These decisions, approved through the federal cabinet expenditure review process, represent one of the most damaging policy choices for Canadian agriculture in a generation. They strike directly at the scientific capacity that underpins farm productivity, export competitiveness, climate adaptation and food security -- particularly in Western Canada, where producers operate under some of the most variable and challenging growing conditions in the world.
"This is not trimming bureaucracy," said Aaron Stein, Executive Director of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. "This is Ottawa dismantling the scientific engine that allows Canadian farmers to compete. You cannot talk about food security, climate resilience or export growth while firing the scientists who make all three possible."
The positions being eliminated are not administrative overhead. They include plant breeders, soil and water scientists, animal nutritionists, pathologists, pest specialists, technicians who maintain long-term field trials, and data scientists who convert research into tools farmers can use. Many of these professionals manage breeding and production systems that take decades to build and cannot be paused or restarted without permanent damage. Once this expertise is lost, the breeding lines, field trials and institutional knowledge disappear with them.
Western Canada will bear a disproportionate share of the damage. Facilities losing staff and operational capacity include the Lacombe Research and Development Centre, founded in 1907 and central to beef, forage and crop-livestock systems research; the Indian Head Research Farm in Saskatchewan, a cornerstone of Prairie crop breeding, soil conservation and sustainable farming systems; and the Swift Current Research and Development Centre, historically critical to wheat, durum and pulse breeding and Prairie soil conservation. These centres are not interchangeable laboratories. They are purpose-built for Prairie climates, Prairie soils and Prairie production systems. When they are hollowed out, the work does not move elsewhere -- it simply ends.
Keith Degenhardt, AFA Board Member and Alberta producer, said the scope of the layoffs makes their impact unavoidable.
"Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced layoffs at seven research facilities, three of which are in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Alberta Federation of Agriculture is deeply disappointed to hear this news. Six hundred and sixty-five positions are being cut, and 1,050 people have now been told their jobs are affected. These cuts will not only hurt the people who have lost their jobs, but all of agriculture in Canada."
He added that the economic logic behind the decision is deeply flawed.
"Research is the backbone of innovation and sustainability in agriculture. The loss of research will reduce the competitiveness and productivity of farmers across Canada. Politicians often say agriculture is the powerhouse of our economy. These cuts will greatly reduce the ability of that powerhouse to continue being a force. Multiple Canadian and international studies have shown that a one-dollar investment in agricultural research can return more than ten dollars to the economy over the long term. This is a significant and short-sighted decision."
Public agricultural research has consistently delivered some of the highest rates of return of any public investment in Canada. Canadian and international studies have repeatedly shown that agricultural research -- particularly plant breeding, pest management and production systems science -- generates long-term benefits through higher yields, lower production costs, reduced crop losses, and stronger export performance. These gains compound over time, meaning the value of research today continues to pay farmers and the broader economy decades into the future.
From Prairie wheat and barley breeding to livestock feed efficiency and disease resistance, public agricultural research has driven billions of dollars in productivity gains across Western Canada. Cutting this capacity does not save money -- it transfers future costs onto farmers and taxpayers through lost yield growth, higher input use, increased vulnerability to drought and disease, and weaker global competitiveness.
Rather than shrinking agricultural research, Canada should be expanding it. The return on investment is not marginal -- it is extraordinary. Few government programs generate ten dollars or more in economic benefit for every dollar spent. At a time when climate volatility, geopolitical instability and market competition are increasing, agricultural research should be treated as strategic infrastructure, not discretionary spending.
While Canada is dismantling its research workforce, its competitors are doing the opposite. The United States funds its Agricultural Research Service at roughly $1.6 to $1.8 billion (USD) annually and operates more than 90 research locations, explicitly treating agricultural science as a tool of national security, climate adaptation and trade strategy. Australia invests more than $3 billion (AUD) annually through combined federal funding and industry-led research corporations, directly linking innovation to export competitiveness. Canada is now choosing to move in the opposite direction, guaranteeing slower genetic progress, weaker disease protection and declining reliability as a global supplier.
Agricultural research is also central to food security and trade stability. It protects crop yields, animal health and phytosanitary compliance while reducing volatility in production systems. Weakening this capacity increases the risk of disease outbreaks, crop failures, trade disruptions and higher food prices. The federal government is creating future crises in order to achieve short-term savings.
These cuts were approved through the federal government's expenditure review process, without meaningful consultation with agricultural producers and without any publicly articulated plan to preserve breeding pipelines or regional research capacity.
"You cannot call agriculture a strategic sector while firing the scientists who sustain it," said Stein. "If this government truly believes agriculture is an economic powerhouse, it is now actively disabling that engine."
To date, neither Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada nor the federal government has provided a substantive justification tied to scientific performance, farmer need, or regional impact for these cuts. No evidence has been presented that agricultural research programs were failing, inefficient, or unnecessary. No cost-benefit analysis has been released, no regional impact assessment has been published, and no plan has been outlined for maintaining breeding pipelines or replacing the research capacity being lost. The only explanation offered has been fiscal -- that departments were required to reduce spending. This is not an agricultural policy decision grounded in outcomes or evidence; it is a budgetary decision made without regard for the long-term consequences for farmers, food security, or Canada's global competitiveness.
The Alberta Federation of Agriculture is calling on the federal government to immediately halt layoffs affecting agricultural research staff, restore and expand funding to AAFC research programs, publicly disclose which research programs are being eliminated or downsized, and engage Western Canadian producers directly in rebuilding Canada's agricultural science capacity.
Canada's agricultural success was built on science and Ottawa is now tearing that science down. These cuts will not be felt this year. They will be felt in five years, in ten years, in the next drought, in the next disease outbreak and in the next global food crisis. Once research capacity is lost, it is not easily rebuilt. This decision will echo through Western Canadian agriculture for a generation.
Background sources: AAFC public statements as reported by national and agricultural media; Farm Credit Canada and Agricultural Institute of Canada research return analyses; USDA Agricultural Research Service and Australian government agricultural R&D reporting.
SOURCE Alberta Federation of Agriculture
Aaron Stein, Executive Director, Alberta Federation of Agriculture, [email protected]
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