WSU President tells field day ag is priority one

WSU President tells field day ag is priority one

Washington Ag June 22, 2009 Here is a trivia question. How many times has a Washington State University president visited WSU’s 95 year-old Lind Dryland Experiment Station? Answer; once, and not until this year when President Elson Floyd attended the Lind Field Day last week. Given the importance of agriculture to WSU Floyd called that incredible and during a luncheon address reiterated that for Washington State University, agriculture is the number one priority.

Floyd: “Because we are the state’s only land grant research university and the agricultural mission is exclusively ours. It is a domain we should be proud of. It is a domain we should celebrate and be unabashedly clear about how Washingtonians will benefit from the continued investment in Washington State University.”

President Floyd talked about the budget cuts WSU had to make for the next biennium and the fact some programs were eliminated, something he said had to be done to avoid watering down the whole.

Dean Dan Bernardo of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences also spoke and said negotiations are now underway with the top contenders for the University’s winter and spring wheat breeding positions. Crops and Soil Science chair Rich Koenig said they may be able to announce the new winter wheat breeder at the Spillman Field Day in July but it may be later for the spring wheat breeder announcement.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

Previous ReportThe value of the meat and poultry industry to Washington
Next ReportGrassland Reserve deadline; Iraqi visitors