Green, as in plants
MSU’s Cooperative Extension Service for agriculture shouldn’t be turned into green economy boondoggle
There were sighs of relief across Michigan when Gov. Jennifer Granholm didn’t exercise her line-item-veto prerogative to slash $64 million in state funds supporting Michigan State University’s Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station.
That outcome is less than perfect, however, if MSU has been pressured into sacrificing some traditional farm services so it can focus more on wind farms and other Granholm-favored “green economy” projects.
Agriculture is a huge part of Michigan’s economy. The state’s agri-food sector has grown to $71 billion from $55 billion in 1997. It employs about one in four Michigan workers and is a major source of exports for the state.
Cooperative extension programs especially benefit rural areas — bringing farmers the latest research findings regarding crops and farm animals, helping 4-H youth learn about raising calves and sheep. Their broad reach, however, includes nutritional counseling for mothers in the WIC program, food service training and other services equally helpful to urban residents.
Farmers and MSU also have been invested in the kind of alternative energy initiatives the governor is pushing, particularly corn ethanol and biofuels.
That’s why it came as a surprise that the governor recommended cutting in half the funding of the experiment station and extension service last spring, amid looming budget problems. Lawmakers rejected that recommendation and sent her proposals with the funding intact.
Vexed that they, instead, wanted to cut such programs as Promise Grant scholarships, Granholm vowed she’d use line-items vetoes to tailor departmental budgets to her liking.
Many thought it meant she would slash funding for the extension service and experiment station as part of a strategy to get lawmakers to approve new taxes and reverse some of their $1.3 billion in cuts.
Such a move would have wiped out more than 2,600 jobs at 80 extension offices and 15 research stations throughout the state. Michigan would have become the only state to eliminate them.
Then came the governor’s announcement she would keep the programs because the extension service is being transformed into an organization “that will broaden its scope and help grow Michigan’s green economy.”
Some agribusiness leaders believe MSU now will, indeed, be forced to sacrifice many existing programs in favor of the alternative energy projects Granholm favors and sees as the next industry for Michigan.
For their part, MSU officials have said they have been working for six months on new directions for the extension service to make it more relevant to the modern needs of its clients — and hustled to let Granholm know about the coming changes in hopes of saving it from the budget ax.
Agriculture has been a relative bright spot in the Michigan economy. It’s one place where investing state dollars has paid a dividend. We hope the extension service will be allowed to continue to support farmers in bringing economic growth and jobs to Michigan.
The Detroit News
10 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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