A top AgResearch scientist who has resigned over a controversial relocation plan is warning it is doomed to fail.
The Crown research institute intends to shift 250 staff to two new hubs in Lincoln and Palmerston North by 2016 as part of its $100 million Future Footprint restructuring.
Southern councils and farmers have run a campaign to reverse the downscaling of the Invermay campus near Dunedin.
Susanne Rasmussen, a metabolomics scientist from Palmerston North, told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme on Monday that the plan will not work.
Ms Rasmussen said most scientists, particularly those who are world-class, will find jobs elsewhere or take early retirement. She said the restructuring is being forced through too fast.
