WSU ag to absorb more cuts
Washington Ag Today September 21, 2010 Washington State University’s College of Agriculture, the Ag Research Center and WSU extension are not going to escape the impact of a 13.5 million dollar budget reduction that began in July after all. WSU President Elson Floyd had hoped to absorb the spending reduction within the university’s central administration. But assistant ag dean and Director of WSU’s Agricultural Research Center, Dr. Ralph Cavalieri, told the Washington Grain Commission last week that there weren’t enough vacant positions in central administration to account for the 13.5 million budget cut and agriculture will have to share in some of the spending reduction, though he didn’t have specific numbers. Since then the state’s revenue situation has prompted Governor Gregoire to order another 6.3 percent budget reduction for state agencies including Washington State University. More cutbacks could be coming in the next legislative session. Brett Blankenship, President of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, says defending research funding at WSU is a top priority for his farmers. Blankenship: “Since research is our future and unfortunately to some urban legislators it is pretty easy to cut that kind of spending rather than other targeted cuts.” WSU says in the last 15 months, the university has seen state biennial budget support fall by 26 percent. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag today on Northwest Ag Info Net.
