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It’s been months since the province and federal government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work on keeping two of Saskatchewan’s federal research farms open, and the province’s agriculture minister said they’re making progress.
“I’m confident we’re going to land in a good spot, I really am,” Minister Dave Marit said.
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The two parties signed the MOU in July. It came after Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced in January that it would be closing a number of research farms across the country as part of wider budget cuts, including two in Saskatchewan. The Scott and Indian Head farms were put on the chopping block.
Now, Marit has been working on a deal and said he believes they’ll get there.
“Just, some of the process when you’re dealing with federal bureaucracy and how some of the layers have to go through – obviously when you’re doing transfers like this it’s not just the Ministry of Ag,” he explained.
The minister said he thinks everything is being addressed as best it can.
He said his first concern was making sure they could keep the employees who were already working at the farms, and he thinks that’s going to happen the way they want it to.
Marit also said they’re looking at different options for who or what could run the facilities.
First, though, he said he wants to finalize the transfer and reach an agreement with the federal government.
