North Dakota Ag Extension and Research Worried About Budget Cuts

Agweek reports:  

North Dakota State University agriculture officials say budget cuts from the North Dakota Legislature will mean leaving vacant positions open and over time could cut their competitiveness for top talent with other research institutions.

“It takes 30 years to build a reputation, and it takes 30 seconds to destroy a reputation,” says Ken Grafton, vice president for agricultural affairs and dean of the college of Ag Food Systems and Natural Resources, as well as director of the NDSU Agricultural Experiment Station. “What really concerns me is recruitment and retention.”

 
Grafton echoes what a group of NDSU Distinguished Professors are saying, including four in agriculture. They recently wrote a letter warning that the cuts could irreparably damage NDSU research. As budget cuts set in, NDSU's competitiveness depends in part on whether the competing institutions are also suffering budget cuts of the same magnitude.

Due to an unexpected shortfall in the state general fund projected revenue, former Gov. Jack Dalrymple in February 2016 and then August 2016 ordered NDSU and other state agencies to absorb two “allotment” reductions in operations. The allotments totaled a 6.55 percent cut from the 2015-17 biennium. Dalrymple then suggested a 90 percent budget for 2017-19 — a 10 percent cut from the original 2015-17 budget.

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Source:  AgWeek.com

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