George Morris Centre | Assets of farm policy research organization will be gifted to University of Guelph ag college
A think-tank that has influenced agricultural policy in Canada since the 1990s will be closing its doors later this year.
The George Morris Centre in Guelph, Ont., will be dissolved in the next six months and its assets transferred as a gift to the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College.
Plans to dissolve the organization were announced in a news release issued by the centre June 19.
Board chair Bob Funk said details regarding the transfer of centre’s assets and the future of its staff will be worked out over the next few months.
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In the meantime, the centre will remain open and researchers will complete work that is already underway.
The centre employs six employees, down from 12 at the height of its growth several years earlier.
“Right now, there’s a transition team … that will decide how it all fits together and how it all moves over to the University of Guelph,” Funk said.
“I don’t think any of us know what the answers to all of the questions are. It’s something that’s a work in progress.”
The centre was named after its founder, George Morris, an Ontario farmer who donated half his estate to fund the agricultural think-tank. It was established in 1990 and operated as part of the University of Guelph until it became a non-profit charitable corporation in 1998.
It has published numerous reports and studies, many advocating the elimination of market distorting mechanisms such as supply management and single-desk marketing.
Morris had stipulated that the centre’s assets be turned over to the university if it was ever wound down.
Managing director John Scott said assets, including money left in the centre’s endowment fund, will be turned over to the university.
Officials in charge of the transition will decide how the assets will be managed.
Centre officials said it is likely that the George Morris name will remain visible on projects or facilities that benefit from the endowment.
“Obviously there’s value in the George Morris name … so the University of Guelph will likely be interested in having his name attached to the legacy pieces,” said Funk.
The centre has helped shape Canada’s agriculture and agri-food landscape by conducting research and facilitating policy discussions on key issues affecting the ag sector.
Funk said several factors led to the decision to dissolve the non-profit centre.
The increasing size and cost of research projects require more resources and more “critical mass.”
“Essentially, we’ve kind of gotten to the point where it needed to be rolled back in together with something,” he said.
“The world has changed. The projects are bigger so you need more critical mass to do research and you need (a bigger) variety of researchers.”
Scott declined to say how much money was left in the centre’s endowment fund.
