Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The plan calls for local governments to have more say in what services extension agents offer; counties would share extension specialists; and the extension would begin charging for services it has offered for free or at reduced cost in the past.
No further cuts in the Extension Service's budget are planned, nor are job cuts beyond those already eliminated this year under a state buyout, Virginia Tech President Paul Torgersen said. In fact, Tech hopes to increase its force of county farm agents.
The success of the plan, Torgersen said, depends on the governor and General Assembly allowing the Extension Service to keep $2.5 million in its annual budget that was saved when 70 employees took buyouts under the state's Workforce Transition Act. Part of the money would be used to hire 22 new farm agents. The rest would be invested in training extension workers and in interactive computer and fiber-optics technology.
Former Director Bill Allen took a buyout this summer. Interim Director Clark Jones, his replacement, said the restructuring plan should help Tech's become "the most responsive and innovative extension organization in the nation."
Torgersen said that would be accomplished by thinning extension's management ranks; putting more people in the field; and using computer networking even at the farm level, making it possible to get information to farmers quicker.
The Extension Service - a cooperative effort of local, state and federal governments - was founded in 1914, when communications and roads in rural areas were poor, as a way to get information about agriculture from universities to farmers. In Virginia, the service is operated by Virginia Tech and Virginia State University in Petersburg, with programs in agriculture, home economics and 4-H youth development.
The total Virginia Extension budget this year is $21.9 million, down from $26.9 million in 1990. By next month, extension employment statewide will be 607, down from 900 in 1990. This year's General Assembly restored $7.3 million to extension's budget that Gov. George Allen wanted to cut, but the legislature asked extension to review its operations with an eye toward increasing revenues from sources other than taxes.
Tech is still studying ways to boost outside revenues. Torgersen said two programs that might be paid for by user fees are consumer horticulture programs, such as Master Gardener classes, and the Community Resource Development programs, which provide economic and demographic research to local governments and others.
Spending taxpayers dollars on some extension programs, such as Master Gardener, has been controversial, and Torgersen said he was trying to take all controversy out of the extension program. "If there are any red flags out there, I'm pulling them down," he said.
The restructuring plan calls for reducing the number of Extension Service administrators in Blacksburg from 20 to 12, leaving no more than one level of management between Tech and local agents. The management cuts already have been made under the state buyout, Torgersen said.
Under the plan, the number of farm agents will increase from 85 to 107. The number of 4-H agents will be kept at 84, and the number of home economics agents cut from 60 to 51, Torgersen said. The service also wants to retain certain specialist positions that are vacant because of retirements, such as those in forages, poultry and soybeans.
The remaining home economists will be asked to help the state with its overhaul of welfare. Judy Midkiff of Abingdon, president of the Virginia Association of Home Economists, said the home economists had always worked to improve the quality of people's lives, including those on public assistance. The association is worried that the loss of staff will jeopardize the home economists' mission, she said.
Martha Moore, assistant director for public affairs for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation - the state's largest farm organization - said much of the restructuring plan sounds similar to recommendations from her organization. The bureau believes extension's primary focus should be on agriculture, natural resources and environmental science, she said.
The bureau is especially pleased the plan includes 22 additional field agents and the specialist positions, Moore said. The plan's emphasis on technology will enhance farmers' ability to get information faster, she said.
Reggie Reynolds, executive secretary of the Virginia Cattlemen's Association in Daleville, said he looked forward to more effort being put into agriculture. But he worries whether, if fewer dollars are available to the extension program, it can really do that.
by CNB