A story in the California Farm Bureau Federation publication AgAlert this week, with analysis of Gov. Schwarzenegger's budget proposal, includes concerns about cuts faced by UC's Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension.
AgAlert assistant editor Kate Campbell interviewed the state farm bureau's director of taxation and land use John Gamper for the story.
Gamper noted that state budget support for AES and UCCE has been in a "severe downward spiral" over the past two decades, with budget cuts of 20 percent and 25 percent to AES and CE, respectively, in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
"These cuts were a larger percentage reduction than was assessed to other university programs," Gamper noted in the article. "Similar cuts to the AES and CE programs were made in the early 1990s. No recovery for their budgets has occurred since 2002. Given the role these programs play in agricultural research and development that benefit all Californians, this cannot continue."
Schwarzenegger's proposal calls for a 10 percent budget cut across the board. Legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill said, after reviewing the governor's proposal, that "the Legislature should eliminate or further reduce low-priority programs in order to minimize the impact on higher priority programs and examine additional revenue options as part of a more balanced approach." In the article, no specifics were given on what Hill considers "low-priority programs."
She said the risk with the administration's approach is that -- by attempting to preserve most funding for most programs -- many programs end up operating in a less-than-optimal manner and provide lower-quality services to the public.