Many of You Are Aware That a Proposal for Extreme Budget Cuts to 4-H, Cooperative Extension

Georgia Extension Office Services Threatened

1. The proposed cut to UGA is $58-60 million, which comes to 12.8%. Of this cut, Extension is targeted to take $11.6 million, or 33.3% of its budget.

2. Cooperative Extension is 7.6% of the total UGA budget, but is targeted to take 20% of the total UGA cut. Extension is taking the brunt of the cut for the whole university.

3. The proposed cuts recommend elimination of the 4-H program and closing half of the Extension offices in the state. Of the approximately 1000 UGA positions proposed to be eliminated, over 500 of them are in Extension and 4-H.

4. If this cut stands, Extension will take cuts totaling 51% between FY 09 and FY 11.

5. If half of the county offices are closed, Georgia would stand to lose half of the county funding. County funding is $25 million statewide. If Georgia lost half (because there would be no offices in half the counties) the state stands to lose $12.5 million. This is more in losses than the state would be saving.

As you can see, these statistics are staggering, and if implemented, the proposed cuts would greatly diminish the extension service offices ability to meet the needs of the public.

From the Georgia Agribusiness Council website:

Many of you are aware that a proposal for extreme budget cuts to 4-H, Cooperative Extension and other agriculture related programs at the University of Georgia was released late Monday afternoon ( CLICK HERE TO SEE A LIST OF THE PROPOSED CUTS TO THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES .) While it has understandably generated a great deal of concern in the agribusiness industry, we want to point out that the specific cuts were recommended by individual institutions and then assimilated in a Board of Regents document for consideration. The specific cuts were not recommended by the legislature or the Governor.

This list stemmed from conversations last week in a joint session of the Georgia Appropriations Committees as the Chancellor of the Board of Regents was instructed to develop a plan to reduce the Regent’s budget by an additional $300 million for fiscal year 2011. Monday’s report reflects the plan to meet the $300 million cut. Budget cuts are contemplated by all of the colleges and universities overseen by the Board of Regents. Unfortunately, the document from the Board of Regents includes $11.66 million in cuts to Cooperative Extension. The plan also includes $816 thousand in cuts to the CAES research budget. A detailed list of the Board of Regents proposed cuts can be viewed at HTTP://WWW.USG.EDU/FISCAL_AFFAIRS/DOCUMENTS/SUMMARY_OF_REDUCTIONS.PDF

Ensuring that cuts to UGA-CAES do not result in the agriculture and horticulture sector shouldering a disproportionate share of the budget reduction process is our priority. We encourage you to contact your STATE REPRESENTATIVE and STATE SENATOR to let you know how important these programs are to your community, your livelihood and our industry. By working together, we hope to eliminate these cuts from consideration or at least to reduce them as much as possible. The state is facing a severe budget crisis and, while we must recognize that sacrifices are essential, we should voice our concerns about unreasonable cuts that damage the agriculture industry and impact negatively on the citizens of Georgia.