Farm Bill may slow agriculture colleges' response to farm emergencies, extension folks say

A provision in the new Farm Bill, which moves away from annual block-grant funding to competitive funding, will take money from land-grant universities and their extension services, warn many university leaders. The shift could have a significant impact on smaller colleges, because larger universities are in a better position to compete for funds. Many of the smaller schools are historically black.

Critics of the provision say it will make schools will be less able to respond quickly to farm emergencies, and hurt integrated pest management. “Things like soybean rust or insect problems that may hit agriculture” will see a delay in response, said Jack Payne, extension director at Iowa State University, in an interview with David Bennett of Delta Farm Press. “The competitive grant funds are usually restricted and don’t allow the system to react quickly. There must be some sort of base funding to react to immediate needs and that’s how the IPM funding has run for decades.”

Payne said Congress made the change on the advice of the Department of Agriculture, believing that capacity funding was already competitive. While efforts are already being made to amend the provision, Payne says it is unlikely anything will happen until the spring of next year. (Read more)