Highlands Today
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AGRICULTURE A 'Dying Business'?
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Published: February 25, 2008
SEBRING — Highlands County Commissioner Andy Jackson said the University of Florida is still his "favorite university."
But Jackson remains concerned over recent comments made by J. Bernard Machen, the president of the University of Florida
Jackson, a graduate of the UF and a lifelong Gators supporter, said he does not agree with Machen's published comment that "agriculture is a dying industry in the state of Florida."
Machen, who came to UF in 2003 from the University of Utah, also infuriated agriculture interests when he added that agriculture in Florida "is not worthy of the investment being made by the legislature" in the state's extension service program.
Machen was quoted as saying the university's agriculture extension service should take the brunt of the $25 million in budget cuts slated for the university. That would mean cutting between 200 to 300 faculty members who run the extension service.
Cuts to the extension service also would include consolidating educational programs and closing or severely cutting extension offices, such as the Highlands County Extension Office.
In addition to various areas of agriculture, the extension service also has agents who run 4-H programs, which have more than 243,000 elementary and high school students enrolled in cities and rural areas statewide.
Jackson said the Highlands County Commission should write a letter to Machen expressing how important agriculture is in this county, and stating that agriculture is anything but "dead" in this area.
Jackson noted that Machen has already taken a lot of criticism over his downgrading of agriculture's importance. Instead of lambasting Machen, Jackson said the county commissioners should draft a "positive" letter which stresses the economic importance of agriculture and the university's extension services in Highlands County.
Machen's remarks were first reported by two reporters for Farm & Ranch News. He also was quoted as saying the University of Florida's investment in the agriculture-based extension service is not doing anything positive for the goal of getting the university into an elite ranking among the nation's top 10 universities.
Ray Royce, executive director of the Heartlands Agricultural Coalition, said Machen has denied saying that agriculture isn't important in Florida any longer. His comments, Royce said, were reportedly made by Machen to the leadership of the University of Florida's College of Agriculture and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Those people then reportedly passed on the gist of Machen's remarks to Farm & Ranch News.
IFAS is the governing body of the University of Florida's and Florida A&M University's agricultural college faculty who run the extension service.
Royce said people involved in agriculture and agriculture-releated businesses have lambasted Machen's comments. Royce said it's clear that budget cuts will have to be made at the University of Florida, but the bulk of those cuts should not be made in the university's college of agriculture or in the extension program.
"I think the good thing (about Machen's comments)," Royce added, "is that there has been a very significant backlash to this, and lot of people are reminding the president of the university and state legislators that while we understand some budgdt cuts need to be made, they should not disproportionally affect the college of agriculture and they should not criple the extension programs,."
Royce said the same percentage of budget cuts made to the college of agriculture should be implemented for the University of Florida's medical school, its financial and accounting programs and every other course of study.
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