All of WSU ag research is at risk

Washington Ag Today February 4, 2010  A quirk in federal legislation regarding stimulus funding is threatening the future of Washington State University’s entire agricultural research program. Legislative staffers in Olympia have discovered that Washington’s use of federal stimulus funds for higher education means the state is restricted on how deeply its budget can be cut, but research funding is exempt from the restrictions. WSU President Elson Floyd states in a university document that this could make WSU’s research funding an available and attractive target as legislators face the difficult task of balancing Washington’s budget.

Dan Bernardo, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences says 23-million dollars is at stake for the Ag Research Center.

Bernardo: “It would essentially eliminate ag research as we know it from WSU and it would also have significant impacts on extension as you can‘t really have much of an extension program if you don‘t have a research base to deliver. It would be devastating for us. I think it would be absolutely devastating to production agriculture and the food sector of our state and that contributes about 30-billion dollars to the gross state product.”

Bernardo emphasizes that no lawmaker has yet announced support for such a reduction in research but he says some fiscal staff people are pushing pretty hard.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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