WSU barley breeder retiring; Vilsack on earmarks

WSU barley breeder retiring; Vilsack on earmarks

Washington Ag Today March 23, 2011 Washington State University barley breeder Steve Ullrich is retiring April 1st. At this point it is not clear if or how the breeder position will be permanently filled.

Rich Koenig, chairman of the WSU Department of Crop and Soil Sciences has told the Washington Grain Commission that assistant research professor Kevin Murphy will assume Ullrich’s duties in the interim.

WSU had been looking at having a USDA Agricultural Research Service barley breeder in southern Idaho be a breeder for Washington as well, but that person recently resigned and it is not yet known if the ARS will fill the vacated position. WSU is waiting to see what happens.

With Ullrich retiring and the ARS position in Idaho vacant, the only barley breeder in the Pacific Northwest is Pat Hayes at Oregon State University.

Several research projects important to northwest agriculture like STEEP and the PM-10 project are categorized as earmarks, which are now no-no’s in Congress. At a recent Senate agricultural appropriations hearing, Senators expressed concern that Agriculture Secretary Vilsack had not included projects important in their states in the USDA’s proposed 2012 budget. The Secretary said that doesn’t mean automatic termination.

Vilsack: “We are undertaking within USDA to establish a priority listing of things that need to be maintained and things that need to be continued and to able to explain and justify why the need to be continued.”

But Vilsack said there will be tough decisions to make in these tough budget times.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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