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UF President Machen Plows Over Agriculture

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By GEORGE PARKER JR. AND STEPHANIE FARMER

Published: February 13, 2008

Last month J. Bernard Machen, president of the University of Florida, sent shockwaves throughout Florida's agricultural community.

Machen is reported to have said that "agriculture is a dying industry in the state of Florida" and is "not worthy of the investments being made by the Legislature" in the university's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).

Apparently those investments do not reach his goal of making UF one of the top 10 universities in the United States.

Accordingly, the $25 million in budget cuts he has slated for UF also contain plans to cut a disproportionate amount of funds from IFAS, with those cuts being implemented as early as March.

Machen's intentions are to cut between 200 and 300 faculty members from IFAS, consolidate its educational programs and close and/or severely cut Extension offices (which include 4H) and IFAS educational research centers.

How severely does he plan to cut? It has a lot to do with the agricultural community's reaction to this issue.

Hugh Gramling, executive director of the Tampa Bay Nursery Growers Association, was so disturbed by the news that he made a personal trip to UF to ascertain if this were true; sadly, he discovered it was.

Is agriculture no longer a viable industry in Florida? The Florida vegetable crop industry is worth more than $1.6 billion! The strawberry industry alone is valued at more than $273 million, and aquaculture tops $100 million. Florida's nursery industry has grown to $15.2 billion. The citrus industry itself is worth almost $9 billion!

The 4H program, through the Extension Service, had an enrollment of over 243,000 youth. County and city governments utilize IFAS and extension for their research and assistance in many issues, including water management.

The University of Florida can become one of the nation's top 10 universities, but we need to educate President Machen, UF's Board of Trustees and our Florida Legislature of how important IFAS and extension is to agriculture and the youth of our state.

For the addresses of Florida House and Senate members, go to myflorida.com, click on "government" and then "legislative branch," where you can find the links to the House and Senate Web sites.

George Parker Jr. and Stephanine Farmer write for Farm & Ranch News, where this article first appeared.

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