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More funding leads U of M to add positions Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Agri News staff writer
ST. PAUL -- Last year's increase in agricultural funding for the University of Minnesota has helped the university fill open positions and add new ones.
The Legislature appropriated $53.2 million for fiscal year 2008, which started July 1, 2007, and runs through June 30, 2008, and $52.2 million for fiscal year 2009 in a special appropriation known as the ag special. That was a 7 percent increase over the past biennium and the first increase in the special appropriation that funds agriculture and Extension since 1999.
The university devoted some of the dollars toward hiring people to specialize in the organic and sustainable fields, but is also working to hire people with other production agriculture specialties, said Al Levine, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
Specialists who will be hired include a corn cropping systems agronomist, a dairy nutritionist, someone with specialties in value-added animal products' processing and safety issues, two people in bioresources and bioenergy and someone to work in community based energy who will work with a regional Extension educator who specializes in the same field.
Someone will be hired to work at the research and outreach center in Morris to focus on crops and energy and someone will be hired to work at the research and outreach center in Lamberton to focus on organic cropping systems and cropping systems in general.
Minnesota agriculture is diverse, Levine said, and the university needs to be diverse in the education, outreach and research it provides to those in the agricultural field.
CFANS and Extension have consulted with agricultural groups, department heads and faculty as to how to best invest the money allocated from the Legislature, said Bev Durgan, Extension dean.
In the organic arena, she's most excited about the opportunity the university will have to conduct research on the dairy herd at Morris. She expects half the dairy herd to stay in a non-organic grazing system with the other half converted to organic. There are four genetically diverse groups of cows within the herd, she said.
People are always asking about the difference between organic and conventional, Durgan said. At West Central Research and Outreach Center, researchers will be able to compare the two systems side-by-side.
"It's a great opportunity," she said.
The university is also doing work on extending the vegetable growing season through the use of high tunnels, Durgan said.
Much of the work done at the university applies to all producers, Durgan said. The high price of corn affects not only conventional pork producers, but also sustainable and organic producers. Bovine TB affects all beef producers.
Levine doesn't think the university will move toward offering a degree in organic agriculture, but he hopes students graduating from the U of M understand all production systems.
Robert King, head of the Department of Applied Economics, will step down from that position to focus on organic and sustainable agriculture systems, Levine said. He will also develop an undergraduate course in organics.
The Legislature's ag special allocation includes $1 million in non-recurring funding that will go to hiring graduate students, Durgan said. The students will do research in a variety of areas, including biofuels, organic agriculture and soil fertility.
While last year's ag special allocation was an increase, Levine continues to monitor what is happening at the Legislature this year where legislators are grappling with a projected budget shortfall. |
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