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May 2010
by Ron Cerri

 

Ron Torell, North-East Livestock Extension Specialist, has submitted his resignation to the Nevada Cooperative Extension, effective June 30th, 2010. Ron is technically still working for the Extension Service, but is using the annual leave he has built up. It seems Ron got into hot water over the last article he wrote entitled Technology Hypocrisy. As an employee of the University system, the on campus administration felt it was inappropriate for Ron to mention by name some of agriculture’s adversaries like Western Watersheds Project, PETA, and the Humane Society of the United States; organizations whose objectives are to create havoc for agriculture.

I read the article, as I am sure many of you did. The article was about new technology and how it was being used in today’s communication world. All Ron had said was that these groups have learned to effectively use this new media to spread their message, and if we in agriculture are going to survive we had better learn to do the same. It would seem to me that someone who is getting paid to work with and for an industry should be able to defend that industry. But I guess one should not be surprised; after all this is the same University Administration that is proposing the elimination of the College of Agriculture.

NCA committee members, as well as other stakeholders, are still meeting with University and College Administrators in an attempt to try and save the College, the programs, the faculty, and assets like the Main Station Farm. It has taken years for the College to assimilate all these things and once they are gone I think they will be gone for good. Members of NCA and other concerned individuals have been meeting weekly for over two months with University representatives. They have argued for the need to have a College of Agriculture. I would like to be able to tell you that they have found a solution that is satisfactory to everyone, but the reality is that they haven’t. There needs to be $4 million plus in cuts. The latest proposal from the stakeholders would preserve the identity of the College of Agriculture and keep the Main Station Farm, but it would give up some of the programs and it would eliminate some faculty positions.

On another update, NCA is still working on trying to save the State Veterinary position. Since learning about the elimination of this position we at NCA have attempted to figure out how and why this happened, and are trying to get it reinstated. What we have discovered is that it was a mistake and when the legislature, during the special session, was looking for places to make budget cuts one of the first places they started was eliminating the funding for all open positions. Somehow they had been led to believe that the State Veterinarian position was vacant, and as a result they eliminated the funding. Now you would think that if this was an obvious mistake then all they should have to do is acknowledge the error and reinstate the funding. But this is government and nothing is that easy. What has to happen now is this has to go first to the State Board of Examiners, with an explanation of how this happened and a dollar request to re-fund the position. The State Board of Examiners then needs to decide whether to recommend that this be sent to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee who will then hear from the Department of Agriculture on how this happened, and why it is important enough that they should re-fund it at a time when the state is basically broke.

The Brand Committee met, once again, and finalized its recommendations which will go to the Director and then to the Board of Agriculture. The Board will decide which recommendations to accept and then will set up a number of workshops around the state where it will hear from producers on the recommended changes.

The Brand Department is experiencing about a $30,000 shortfall in revenue every year. To make up this deficit the committee is recommending that:

1. Brand recording fees go up from $100 to $120 every four years.

2. Livestock sold at auction barns will be charged $1 per head even if they were inspected in the country and were charged there. The feeling was, regardless of whether they were looked at in the country by an inspector, they were looked at again by an inspector at the sale yard. Also if the producers were required to pay for two inspections they would be more likely to use transportation permits, thus saving the department money.

3. Lifetime horse inspections would go from $30 to $50 and annual permits would go from $15 to $25.

4. Eliminate pasture to pasture permits.

Due to the state’s budget woes, I believe, it is a pretty sure bet that the Brand Department is going to be required to become totally fee based. Hopefully these changes will allow that to happen without a reduction in services.

 

Quote of the month:

“Whenever there is [trouble], we’ll depend on ourselves. We’ll take care of it—when it comes, not after it’s too late.”
– Will James, The American Cowboy (1942)

 

 

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