The Arrell Family Foundation is
donating $20 million to the University of Guelph to research food security,
safety and sustainability.
It is the largest private-sector gift
the university has ever received and comes in its 150th year.
“This landmark gift will allow our university
to address the defining challenge of our time: food security, safety and
sustainaTbility,” said university president Franco Vaccarino.
“We are uniquely positioned to make a
difference,” Vaccarino said, boasting about the university’s long history in
agriculture research and international development.
“The Arrell family has shown
incredible generosity and foresight in making this gift, and we are grateful to
them for their faith in our agri-food prowess.”
The donation will create the Arrell
Food Institute. The University will provide matching funds of $20 million, for
a total commitment of $40 million.
Along with recent government and
private funding — including a $77-million award from the Canada First Research
Excellence Fund for the Food From Thought project — this gift brings the total
investment in agri-food at the university to more than $150 million in the past
12 months.
