Iowans from around the state got an opportunity to voice opinions on the future of Iowa State’s agricultural research and extension programs during Thursday’s statewide Iowa Communications Network meeting.

The meeting was hosted by College of Agriculture Dean Catherine Woteki.

She said Iowans who participated in the meeting could give their opinions on what research priorities should be for the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. Research conducted at the experiment station covers many areas including agriculture, family and consumer sciences and engineering, Woteki said.

At the meeting, Woteki presented information on programs and resources of the experiment station, as well as examples of how the research and extension has affected Iowans.

The purpose of the meeting was to “review the portfolio of research that’s conducted by the experiment station and to seek advice on whether these are the right questions, the right priorities and ask if our allocation of funds across these research questions appropriate,” Woteki said.

Brian Meyer, program coordinator for the College of Agriculture, said the feedback provided at the meeting could be used to “fill gaps” in meeting research needs for the state of Iowa and help with budget allocation decisions for the next couple years.

“This is something that Dean Woteki has wanted to do since she came to Iowa State,” Meyer said. “It makes a lot more sense now that we’re in another year of budget cuts.”

Woteki said the feedback gathered would be used to establish which research is high priority and which is low priority.

She said programs considered high priority would continue to be addressed, but some with a lower priority may be discontinued.

“We’ve had major cuts in the state appropriation to the experiment station,” Woteki said.

Meyer said budget cuts have hit the college the past few years, so it needs “to be looking at priorities.”

If people were unable to attend the ICN meeting there will be information on the College of Agriculture Web site next week, he said.

“We put together a report that has quite a bit of information about our research programs,” Meyer said.

Meyer said there will also be a place on the site for people comment on the current and future directions of the experiment station.