Allison Squires, left, and Cody Straza work in thermal compost piles on their Saskatchewan organic farm, Upland Organics.Shawn Fulton/Supplied
Allison Squires spends her day working in fields of lentils, wheat and chickpeas on her organic farm in Wood Mountain, Sask. But with the recent closing of a one-of-a-kind federal research program, she worries the knowledge that helped grow her crops will be lost in the weeds.
The Organic and Regenerative Research Program in Saskatchewan conducted field research on organic and regenerative farming strategies. Those strategies include how living mulch can improve soil and crop quality, how to plant multiple crops in the same field, also known as intercropping, and how growing crops to cover soil can improve sustainability. The findings supported organic farming practices, a method of agriculture that doesn’t use chemicals and pesticides. The program stopped operating April 1.
“To do research like that on our farm would cost an enormous amount of money,” said Ms. Squires, co-owner of Upland Organics. “To have this publicly-funded and publicly available program was so valuable.”
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As part of federal government spending cuts, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is lowering its costs to focus on “fiscal discipline, quality service delivery for Canadians, and economic growth,” spokesperson Stéphanie Blais wrote in an e-mail. The agency is reconsidering its programs “for alignment and efficiency,” to focus on areas that most benefit Canada’s agricultural sector.
The program, led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist Dr. Myriam Fernandez, was a casualty of these cost-saving measures.
Organic farmers and farming associations, such as the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network and the National Farmers Union, say closing the program poses a risk to sustainable organic farming.
“We recognize the importance of maintaining continuity through this transition and are working with partners on next steps for affected projects with a view to preserving research continuity,” Ms. Blais wrote in an e-mail. “We are taking the time necessary to engage with research partners on the future of active projects, preserve findings, and continue to build on these collaborations.”
Ms. Squires says the loss of the Organic and Regenerative Research Program is going to put a lot of organic farmers 'at a competitive disadvantage to conventional farmers.'Shawn Fulton/Supplied
In the past, Ms. Squires has brought Dr. Fernandez’s research out of the lab and into her own fields. She said she was able to improve her yield by selecting different crops to harvest based on her farm’s drier climate, and using livestock to graze and enhance soil health. Without this research, Ms. Squires said she would have had to “do a lot more work on [her] own.”
“It’s going to put a lot of farmers in our sector at a competitive disadvantage to conventional farmers,” she said. “Because our research is the one that’s going to be lost.”
Jim Robbins, president of the Organic Federation of Canada, said peas and oats on his farm grew more productively after he followed the program’s findings on intercropping rotations to suppress harmful pathogens and reduce root rotting.
“We’re often treated as a niche or a brand rather than a different system of agriculture,” Mr. Robbins said. “Just like conventional agriculture, we have problems with weeds and disease and changing markets, but we don’t get much research attention.”
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There were more than 7,500 certified organic operations in Canada as of 2023, and Canadians are spending more each year on organic products. In 2024, they spent close to $10-billion, with organic food and beverage sales reaching $7.77-billion, marking an 8.21-per-cent increase from the previous year.
Jury Gualandris, an associate professor focused on regenerative agriculture at Western University, called the research program’s closing “counterintuitive” and “fairly problematic.”
He said the market value of organic products as well as overseas and domestic demand is growing annually.
“If leveraged properly, this growth will allow us to diversify our exports in a way that’s healthy for the economy,” he said.
Other research projects supporting the organic sector are continuing at about a dozen development centres in locations such as Saskatoon, London, Ont., Kentville, N.S., Charlottetown and St. John’s, according to Ms. Blais with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. However, the agency has closed seven of its research centres amid the federal spending cuts.
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Ms. Blais declined to comment on the staffing impact of the closing of Dr. Fernandez’s program, but she wrote that one technician was reassigned to another research group at the same location.
Dr. Fernandez declined requests for an interview, writing in an e-mail that she has not made a decision about her professional steps, calling the program closing “abrupt.”
“My immediate and total priority is ensuring that two decades of research data and assets are not lost during this transition,” she wrote. “Once the technical requirements for preserving this work and fulfilling as many remaining deliverables as possible are secured, I will be evaluating my future steps.”
Closing the research program can have a ripple effect across the country, Ms. Squires said.
“If organic farmers are put at a disadvantage, then it’s going to be harder for us to produce food and provide it to Canadians,” she said. “It’s going to impact Canadians’ choices on the shelves.”