06/08/07 WSPC research director on WSU's "Kitchen Cabinet"

Farm and Ranch June 8, 2007 Washington State Potato Commission Research Director Andy Jensen has been appointed to Washington State University's "Kitchen Cabinet" for the College of Agriculture, Home Economics and Natural Resources. Among the Kitchen Cabinet duties is advising Dean Dan Bernardo on how well the College is meeting the needs of Washington's agriculture industry. Jensen says this is an important development. Jensen: "Absolutely! This kind of interaction with the College of Ag at WSU is something that our commission has been pushing for all the time I have been here and probably longer which is over eight years. Since the new Dean Dan Bernardo joined WSU he is taking this very seriously. And we are making incredible progress in terms of the ability of the agriculture industry to interact with WSU." The first task Jensen and about a dozen other leaders in agriculture will tackle is the funding WSU received from the legislature for its Unified Agriculture Initiative. Jensen: "Some pieces of the funding are well assigned by the legislature on what they will be used for. Others it is not quite so clear and so this committee will help advise the Dean on how to do things." The legislature provided 6.5 million dollars of the 10.8 million WSU sought for the Unified Agriculture Initiative. That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.