Monsanto's Canadian head office leaving Winnipeg following Bayer acquisition

The future for employees at Monsanto's Canadian head office in Winnipeg is up in the air after the company's new owners announced plans to move the operation to Calgary this week.

Monsanto was bought by German drug and farm chemical maker Bayer AG two years ago in a $66-billion deal, in which Bayer acquired the seed and weed-killer company.

Monsanto Canada's headquarters are currently at the University of Manitoba but Bayer, which already had its Canadian headquarters in Calgary, was left with a decision to make on which city would be home to its combined headquarters, said Trish Jordan, public and industry affairs director with Bayer Crop Science.

But exactly what will happen to 71 administration jobs in Winnipeg remains uncertain.

"We're still waiting for the final organizational structure of the combined organization to be released before we can really take a good look at what roles are available," said Jordan.

"It's probably going to take a couple more months before we know what the structure is, what are the roles, where the roles will be located and how many people will ultimately be impacted."

The final move of any relocated employees isn't expected to happen until the end of summer 2019, and Jordan said Bayer will pay for employees' moving costs.

'Tough for the city and tough for the province'

Both Winnipeg and Calgary lobbied hard for the offices, said Jordan, but after crunching the numbers she says the company ultimately decided to move west.

Factors like personal and corporate tax levels, office space and relocation costs played a role in the decision, she said.

"It's probably tough for the city and tough for the province," said Jordan, who says the U of M joined in the city's and province's lobbying efforts.

"I know they're big advocates for innovation and technology and they want these sorts of roles and jobs in Winnipeg and in the province.

"They looked at the data and tried to look at it objectively and make the best decision for the company, and for our customers in the long term."

Affected employees at the Winnipeg head office include commercial teams and human resources, marketing, and finance personnel, said Jordan.

In addition to its Winnipeg office, Monsanto also runs research facilities in Winnipeg, Headingley and Carman. Jordan says decisions have yet to be made on what will happen to those employees.

"We don't have any line in sight as to whether those facilities will be changing or the employees will be impacted — we just don't know that yet," she said, adding the changeover is a process happening around the world.

"We've got two large companies coming together, so each function and each country or region is going at a different pace."

With files from Meaghan Ketcheson.