Nutrien lays off 80 employees at Vanscoy, Sask. potash mine

Saskatchewan's largest potash producer has announced 80 layoffs at a potash mine southwest of Saskatoon.

Nutrien announced it would be laying off 30 staff and 50 contractors later this year at its Vanscoy mine.

"This is a difficult day for our employees and their families, and we are committed to easing the transition for our impacted employees," said Susan Jones, President of Nutrien Potash in a news release.

"The changes will position Vanscoy to operate more efficiently within Nutrien's entire potash network and ensure we can competitively serve our customers on a long-term basis."

The company said the layoffs were part of "rebalancing"Nutrien's potash production.

However, an agrifood expert said he hoped Nutrien could find another way of dealing with financial difficulties that didn't involve layoffs.

"I'm overwhelmed with a sense of disappointment," said Sylvain Charlebois, dean of the Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University. "It seems to be a ritual this time of year, every year, we have these discussions around layoffs."

Charlebois said a stream of layoffs over the last few years shows a lack of depth in the potash market.

"If demand for potash goes down for one reason or another, in this case it has to do with farmers making less money over the next few months, the only solution we have is to lay off people," he said. "That's not sustainable. The company should be looking at other applications for the mineral itself."

In April, 470 workers at the Vanscoy mine were laid off for one week as the company managed its inventory levels by curtailing production, as well as 140 workers from the company's Allan mine.

The company also laid off 33 employees from its corporate head officein February, but said it planned to move 100 employees from its various operations to Saskatoon this year.

Earlier this year, the company said it planned to find $500M US in savings by the end of 2019.

Nutrien operates six mines in Saskatchewan.It said it expects to hire for 50 to 70 vacancies at other Saskatchewan mines this year.

The Vanscoy mine will still employ about 585 employees. Vanscoy is located 30 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.