In the News: Feds slashed farm research. An internal email suggests they don’t know what Canada’s losing (Canada’s National Observer)

February 2, 2026

By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Canada’s National Observer, February 2nd 2026

Senior officials at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) did not know how their decision to close three research stations on the Prairies would impact the department’s research program when they announced the cuts earlier this month, suggests an internal email obtained by Canada’s National Observer. 

The eight-line message asks the researchers leading projects at the department’s four Prairie research farms — Scott and Indian Head in Saskatchewan, Lacombe in Alberta and Portage la Prairie in Manitoba — to compile a list of their work so the department can “estimate the impacts of the site closure on the research projects.” 

Read the full article here.