Political Funding Mandate
On January 22nd, 2026, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced that it was closing three research centers and four satellite research farms. In addition to this, a further 665 staff at existing research facilities would be terminated. One of the seven priorities Prime Minster Carney gave to every cabinet minister was to spend less on operations.
Canada is a global leader when it comes to agricultural research. Closing three research centers represents 14% of AAFC’s research capacity across the board. One of the research centers being closed is in Lacombe, Alberta, which is one of two centers in Canada that is extensively engaged in livestock research, with the other being in Sherbrooke, Quebec. There are smaller livestock research components in Lethbridge, Alberta and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This means that in terms of livestock research the closure of the Lacombe station represents a funding cut that ranges between 25% and 50%. The cuts will have negative effects on all aspects of Canadian agriculture.
Mandate letters like this are entirely politically justified; no assessment of Canadian research expertise or competencies are factored into policy decisions of this nature. Canadian governments have a lengthy history of making politically motivated decisions, like how the decision to stop funding development of the Avro Arrow in the late 1950s ensured that Canada’s burgeoning aerospace industry expertise was destroyed. This current mandate letter is deliberately targeted at destroying exceptional research capacities in sectors of the economy where the government will get minimal political blowback.
Mixed Messaging
While the federal government is focused on cutting millions of dollars of expenditures, Canada’s research councils are busy spending millions of dollars on innovative research. One such example is the call for research proposals by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) as part of its Alliance Advantage Grant program. The Alliance Advantage Grant webpage states that the program will:
- generate new knowledge and/or technology to address complex challenges.
- create economic, environmental and/or other societal benefits.
- contribute to Canada’s long-term competitiveness.
- support public policy.
- train new researchers in areas that are important to Canada and partner organizations.
- draw on diverse perspectives and skill sets to accelerate the translation and application of research results.
The federal government through its funding of innovative research, such as NSERC’s Alliance Advantage Grant, seeks to improve Canada’s long-term competitiveness. This is vital to growing Canada’s economy and ensuring that, in the case of agriculture, food production in Canada improves as the climate changes. However, there is a substantial lack of vision within the federal government as it has cut funding to AAFC. The federal government is giving money with one hand, while taking it away with the other hand.
Reducing Crucial Research Capacity
AAFC has a lengthy history of being a key institution in the research that leads to the commercialization of new crop varieties and livestock genetics. This research, along with those from other public institutions and the private sector, have established Canada as a leading research country. This global cutting edge research capacity enables Canadian farmers to be global leaders in sustainable agricultural practices and food production. Research confirms that Canadian crop production results in lower carbon emissions than other leading crop producing countries.
Research by my team and I identified that in the instance of wheat research, AAFC accounts for just over 50% of all wheat varieties being produced in 2023. Defunding the research institution responsible for 50% of wheat varieties grown in Canada, will substantially reduce the competitiveness of Canadian wheat producers.
Another way of illustrating the importance of AAFC wheat variety development research is to look at the total acres grown per variety. AAFC varieties are identified in the figure below as AAC and have demonstrated commercial success with Canadian farmers.
Figure 1: Wheat varieties by acreage, 2008-2022
A similar scenario exists for the development of barley varieties. AAFC developed varieties are identified as either AC or AAC.
Figure 2: Barley varieties by acreage, 2007-2022
Abandoning sustainable food production
Canadian farmers have been able to achieve status as the most sustainable producers of food due to the long history of investments in the development and commercialization of new crop varieties and livestock genetics. The challenge for governments is that they are constantly seeking instantaneous media coverage of investments and good news results. The reason this is a challenge in the agricultural sector is that it commonly takes 10-15 years to develop a new crop variety, meaning that the investing government will not receive any credit for its future success.
It is this kind of short-term sensationalized thinking that is going to reduce the competitiveness of Canadian agriculture. Canada’s lack of an Innovation Strategy clearly highlights the inability of senior federal officials and politicians to think long-term about crucial investments that will support and improve the competitiveness of Canadian industries. Innovation Strategies require insight and commitment to long-term goals, not short-term knee jerk reactions.
