Tough economy can lead to disastrous cuts

We were sitting around a conference table during a summer turfgrass field day planning meeting, and one of the faculty – Dr. Chris Williamson – asked, “Have you heard that they are going to eliminate University Extension at Cornell?” 

We are all friends with Frank Rossi from his years at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and we immediately wondered how, if this was true, it would impact the excellent turf program he is growing at Cornell. Rossi’s work involves generous doses of extension activity, by him and his colleagues. 

At Wisconsin, all four full-time turf faculty have some percentage of their time devoted to extension work, and UW Extension pays that portion of their salaries. Any elimination of the extension system in our state would be an unmitigated disaster. I assume it would be in most, if not all, states as well.

An Internet search brought to light a report by Andrew Siff of NBC New York. The third paragraph said, “Tucked in the myriad cuts in this year’s tough-times fiscal plan is an elimination of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, an organization devoted to agricultural solutions and education – which means fighting pests.”