USU fears big loss in agricultural research

Utah State University could lose faculty and $2 million in agricultural research funds if Congress approves a key component of President Bush's proposed budget.

Bush's plan calls for redirecting "formula funds," or money normally budgeted for specific areas of study at land-grant universities and other institutions across the country, and creating a $75 million federal fund for competitive research grants.

If approved, that part of Bush's budget could become effective Oct. 1. In this state, that may mean a "devastating" hit on USU's Utah Agricultural Experiment Station (UAES), with three separate streams of federal funds to be eliminated over the next two fiscal years.

"Thousands of scientists across the country will be out of work," said Jack Payne, USU director of extension services.

Overall, Payne thinks Bush's budget will be good for USU's land-grant mission — except for this one particular area.

USU has agricultural extension services in 28 of Utah's 29 counties. Extension agents in those locations often help farmers, ranchers and home gardeners with a variety of issues.

Those agents rely on USU researchers, some of whom may become victims of budget cuts without additional state help or USU's own ability to reallocate funds.

"We can't manage this budget that's being handed to us in this short of time frame," Payne said.

Also at stake is research taking place at 11 farms and 11 labs and centers across the state, where USU researchers conduct studies in areas like diseases that affect livestock, water and soil conservation and crop production.

Payne is in Nashville this week with the Association of National Extension Directors, which is trying to cope with Bush's proposal.

The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges — membership includes 76 land-grant universities out of 214 institutions — has responded to Bush's plan with an Internet listing of state-by-state assessments of possible budget cuts.

USU's own assessment hints at a worldwide impact.

"We must stand together to reverse this unwise budget strategy if we are to continue to be the breadbasket of the world with the safest food supply the world has ever known," UAES director H. Paul Rasmussen writes. "Our food quantity, quality, diversity and safety are severely threatened with this budget."

Other Utah schools, such as Dixie State College, are concerned Bush's proposal will mean the end of certain educational programs for low-income, first-generation college students. Utah's estimated $8 million Upward Bound program, for example, could get cut.

And if the federal Perkins Loans are phased out, as proposed, low-income students in Utah would lose access to even more financial aid.

But no other institutions, including the University of Utah, have stepped forward with claims they will lose as big as USU under the president's budget plan. U. President Michael Young Thursday said no such concerns had "trickled" up to him yet.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com