[Updated] Ag industry, MSU anxious over potential cuts

The Pugsley Correctional Facility garden, which produces nine tons of food for the poor, was created with assistance from Michigan State University Extension.

As the Halloween budget deadline looms, concerns are growing over signs that the governor may veto funding for agricultural research and extension programs seen as critical to the state’s agricultural sector.

State funding for Michigan State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension programs was not included in the monthly payment authorized by the temporary budget last month. University officials say they fear that the omission is a sign that the governor plans to use her line item veto to cut funding for the programs.

“We are in the dark,“ said MSU Extension Director Tom Coon. “The administration is not communicating with us.”

The program, now 29 days into payroll and operating off of the university’s cash reserves, will be forced to shut down if funding is not restored in the budget due this week, Coon said.

Coon said that the $64 million in annual state funding is used to hire faculty to conduct research on agricultural issues, the information developed through that research is then “translated into the field” by university extension offices in every county.

The work done through these programs is playing a crucial role in the success of the state’s agricultural industry which is valued at $71 billion per year, employs 1 million state residents, and is expanding even as manufacturing declines.

The $64 million research funding has an estimated total annual impact of $1.08 billion on the state economy, he said.

According to an emergency budget cut web page hosted by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the potential cut will have “extreme financial impact” by resulting in the additional loss of $16.4 million in annual federal allocations and $21.5 million in county support for Extension programs.

Because most of the faculty in MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources are funded through the ag research and extension budget lines, a veto of funding would likely close the college, officials have said.

Along with services to farmers, 4-H, nutrition and education programs, the state’s master gardener program and many other programs would be cut.

In an essay, journalist Jack Lessenberry pointed out that MSU’s agricultural extension services benefit urban areas.

… [They are] also helping the City of Detroit to convert brownfields into places that grow crops for energy production. They are helping seven thousand families eat better and assisting others with child care and breast feeding.

Extension programs have developed a method they say is close to wiping out the Emerald Ash Borer. In Macomb County, they’ve helped more than a hundred families avoid foreclosure.

In a statement today the Michigan Farm Bureau called the denial of funds to MSU “the latest in a series of blows to agriculture, which has been under constant assault from the administration on all fronts.”

“It’s evident the Governor has no shame in recklessly using agriculture as a pawn in her negotiation tactics with the Legislature,” the Farm Bureau stated. “… It’s time the Governor started seeing agriculture for what it is and placing a higher value on it.”

Some say that the governor’s move to withhold funding from MSU in the temporary budget may be part of a strategy to force legislators from farm districts to endorse more support for higher education.

Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, said that if that is indeed her strategy, it does not seem to be working.

“In fact it may be making things worse,“ Ballenger said via e-mail. “It’s hard to believe the Ag experimental stations will die, because there are so many Democrats in the Legislature who are already smarting from Granholm’s executive order gutting the Agriculture Commission. She’s creating a huge problem for members of her own party.”

Last week, as part of an executive order that combined the Departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality, Granholm ordered the restructuring of the Agriculture Commission. This move, which followed deep cuts to the Deptartment of Agriculture budget, drew intense criticism from the Farm Bureau and producers groups. In a House bill introduced this week a dozen Democrats objected to the executive order.

Matt Marsden, spokesman for the Republican majority in the Senate, called agriculture Michigan’s “original green industry” and said that the Senate will act to override the governor’s veto if she eliminates MSU ag funding from the higher education budget.

The message on the House side is less clear.

A spokeswoman for the House Democrats, Abby Rubley, said that Majority Leader Andy Dillon will not decide whether to override a veto until after the governor acts on the budget.

There are indications that some House Democrats are unprepared to override a veto by the governor.

“It’s nice to talk about overrides, but the money is not there,” state Rep. Dan Scripps (D-Leland) told the State News.

Scripps told the State News that lawmakers need to look for new revenue to fund things such as the Michigan Promise Scholarship and the MSU Extension and Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station.

Update: Gov. Granholm announced Thursday morning that these programs will continue to get funding but will be restructured.