The future of the College of Agriculture is promising, despite massive budget cuts, ISU officials say.

Although the dairy farm is closing in the fall, there are already plans to get a new farm as soon as possible, said Douglas Kenealy, professor of animal science.

Kenealy is the professor in charge of changing logistics of the dairy science program at Iowa State.

“Freshmen entering this fall will be able to see the new farm [during their time at Iowa State],” he said.

The new dairy farm will be located south of campus off of State Avenue, Kenealy said.

Neil Harl, professor of agriculture economics, said he strongly disagrees about the closing of the current dairy farm.

“The dairy farm has become a fixture of the Iowa State agriculture community,” Harl said.

Harl said since the announcement of the closing of the farm, numerous emails have been sent to him from alumni voicing their opposition to the decision.

“There are very few people who can be indifferent to the closing of the dairy farm,” Harl said. “I understand where the dean is coming from and know all about the budget cuts, but my worry is the talk of the new dairy farm being built.”

Harl said he has known about discussion of the new dairy farm for a while now, but his major concern is how it’s going to be paid for, and if it’s realistic for the College of Agriculture to pursue it at this time.

“In the current environment, can the college put forward the funds for this new facility?” Harl said. “I suspect that if the facility is replaced, it will be farther away from campus, which will be very inconvenient for students.”

Students who want to study agriculture will see the budget cuts and may decide not to study in that area now, Harl said.

Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture, has been unavailable for comment to the Daily for the past two weeks.

Brian Meyer, director of relations for the College of Agriculture, said Woteki has been busy dealing with the public’s questions about the closing of the dairy farm.

“The [current dairy farm] land will not be sold and will remain Iowa State property,” Meyer said. “Some of the workers at the farm will be able to transfer with the herd to Ankeny and some positions will be eliminated.”

The human resources department of the university will help those needing placement, Meyer said.

The projected costs of the new dairy farm cannot be determined currently, Meyer said.

“In 2002, the Iowa Legislature passed Senate File 2316, which allows the university to keep the money from the sale of the Ankeny farm,” Meyer said. “Our plan has been consolidating the two outdated farms into a new facility, but the timeline all depends on the sale of the Ankeny farm.”

“In the fall everything will essentially be the same,” Kenealy said. “Classes will still be taught at the dairy farm here in Ames, but in the spring, students will have to take a shuttle to the Ankeny farm.”

He said he is in the process of submitting a number of funding proposals to the university for next fall so student fees will not go up.

“We are trying to keep things relatively the same for students,” Kenealy said. “We are requesting funding so it won’t cost the students any more money.”

Students wanting to come to Iowa State for agriculture should not worry, Kenealy said.

“If people don’t understand our transition period, then it may be difficult to get new students,” he said. “The end result is that in two to three years, students will have the best facilities in the Midwest.”

A public meeting has been scheduled for Thursday at Red Fox Inn, 1900 Heritage Way, in Waverly at 1 p.m., Meyer said. Woteki will be talking with dairy producers to see how the agriculture department can deal with this transition period, he said.