The College of Agriculture plans to reduce both research programs and facilities in response to state cutbacks, past deficits and salary increases for the next academic year.

The state plans to cut $900,000 from the College of Agriculture’s experiment station and $13,000 from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The $7 million overall cut to the university’s budget also includes a $571,000 cut to the ISU Extension, which will indirectly affect the College of Agriculture.

“We are probably looking at a total cut that will be in the range of $3 million or more,” said Catherine Woteki, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of the Experiment Station.

“The effects [of the budget cuts] are very substantial,” she said.

The College of Agriculture’s reserve money fund was used to cover a budget cut of $829,000 during the 2002-03 academic year, Woteki said. Without reserve money, the College of Agriculture plans to respond by cutting back on programs and facilities both on- and off-campus, Woteki said.

Plans call for a $1.4 million cut in the research programs, the reassessment and movement of two research farms and a teaching farm, and other operational changes at multiple facilities, Woteki said. Any holes remaining in next year’s budget will be addressed by a “variety of other belt tightening measures,” Woteki said.

The College of Agriculture has also requested the approval for funding assistance from ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and Provost Benjamin Allen.

“They have indicated that they will provide some bridge funding,” Woteki said.

The bridge funding will aid the College of Agriculture through the next academic year, she said.

“There are savings that we’re going to have to make this year regardless of the bridge funding just to prepare for the following year,” she said.

Another area of the College of Agriculture, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, is facing a cutback of $13,000 over the next academic year.

This year’s cutbacks are a far cry from the $1 million cutback the center faced last year, said Frederick Kirschenmann, director of the Leopold Center.

“We’ll be able to deal with cutbacks,” he said.

The majority of the center’s funding, generally $1.2 million to $1.3 million, is provided through a designated tax on nitrogen and pesticide sales in Iowa. The center has also received a $560,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation, a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture and a $200,000 research grant from federal appropriations.

“We were able to shift around and get some other sources of funding so that we could do what we have to do,” Kirschenmann said. “We’ve got our fingers crossed that it won’t happen again.”