Budget cuts shutter Extension crop science programs

Neal Merchen, associate dean for research and director of the research centers, said state budget cuts have forced the issue. The U of I’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences has seen a $3.7 million deficit, or 7.5 percent of the college’s total budget.

“Over a 10-year-plus period, we’ve managed to absorb these budget reductions without having to do anything very significant with the off-campus centers as far as cutting back on programming,” Merchen said.

“We have trimmed our own operations on campus to the point where we can’t continue to eliminate. That means that, this year, unfortunately, some of the burden will fall on these programs.”

Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, deep in the rolling hills of Southern Illinois, is both the oldest and largest of the U of I’s off-campus ag research centers. The center covers about 5,000 acres and is an integral part of the fabric of the surrounding region.

Residents have long treated it as a community center of sorts. Stephanie Brown, who formerly headed up the Illinois Forest Resource Center located on the center’s grounds, said losing Dixon Springs is “like losing an old friend.”

A few years ago, Brown was instrumental in forming the nonprofit group Friends of Dixon Springs, aimed at keeping it open.

“There’s a lot of local interest and affinity for the agronomy and the crop science program,” Brown said. “It’s a concern about job loss in a county with high unemployment. It’s also a concern about losing resources that are difficult to regain.”

Grover Webb said the move is wrong-headed. The Pope County farmer said the fact that much of the off-campus agricultural research is being eliminated is alarming.

“I’m more concerned because they closed the four centers rather than just one,” Webb said. “Because if it was just one, they could say they did it because they couldn’t afford it. But because they’re closing all four centers, it seems to me that they’re closing the concept of applied research in agronomy.”

While the future of the other sites is unclear, Dixon Springs will stay open. The main reason is the beef research program there, one of the largest east of the Mississippi River.

“My anticipation is that if anything, we’ll see growth in the beef cattle operation and probably investments made to professional staff to do research and outreach in forestry there, which makes a lot of sense, with the Shawnee National Forest access,” Merchen said.

THE NATURAL resource portion of the research there will also continue and may be expanded, Merchen added.

The horticulture research operation will be shut down, despite recent construction of a third high tunnel structure that allows fruit and vegetable growers to extend their seasons.

The horticulture center at Dixon Springs, headed up by Jeff Kindhart, is highly regarded for its innovative nature. Staff there have experimented with everything from strawberries grown vertically to tobacco and mushroom production.

Brown points to “community assisted research.” Locals would not only purchase produce grown at the station but also help with planting and cultivation.

“The camaraderie with the community and the people who came to assist with research in picking blueberries and things was important,” she said.

“Years ago, when they made a decision to stop produce sales to the public, there was quite a backlash because people have been fond of coming for years. People remember coming as a child. You’re eliminating something that has become part of the fabric of their lives.”

U of I crop scientist Emerson Nafziger, who has been asked to assist with the transition, isn’t driving the final nail in the coffin just yet.

“It’s not a certainty that there will be nothing on these research centers next year,” he said. “In fact, we’re planting wheat at two of those four (Brownstown and Dixon Springs).”

Despite the stark realities of budgets and resource allocation, Nafziger said he understands the special status afforded the centers.

“Each one of them is somewhat unique. They’re more than just a piece geography, weather and climate,” he said. “Dixon Springs and Brownstown have been there since the 1930s. And they were both established in parts of Illinois that had some of the highest poverty rates. They were hardscrabble areas. They were purposely sought out for that reason.”

MUCH OF the history of agriculture in Illinois was written at the ag centers. At Dixon Springs, U of I agronomist George McKibben pioneered no-till farming in the early 1960s. The first no-till planter — cobbled together by staff decades ago — still exists and is often hauled to events.

One uncertainty is what will become of the physical centers. Ownership of the land and structures, in some cases, is vague, with much of the acreage donated by other organizations, some with restrictions on whether the property may be sold.

In the interim, however, the focus will be on the ongoing debate on the value of the centers. Brown said that while the community component is important, there is more to Dixon Springs.

“It has a profound history, with the development of no-till, and all the things that have happened in the past,” she said.

“But, I think that in order to approach the decision-makers on campus and try to appeal this decision, you have to look more at the practical loss of a component that supports the Extension program, the way that these outlying centers support, verify and validate the research taking place on campus.”