News is being made at a well-attended agricultural research and extension symposium being held this afternoon and tomorrow morning in Sacramento. The event is sponsored by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the California Commodity Commission.
Agriculture professionals and policymakers in attendance are getting a first look at new research that shows the rate of growth of public funding for agricultural research and extension has declined and the rate of growth in agricultural productivity is also slowing. The media are also taking notice.
Sacramento Bee reporter Jim Downing interviewed ANR vice president Dan Dooley about the topic this afternoon and USA Today reporter Sue Kirchhoff spoke to ANR associate vice president Rick Standiford about his presentation, titled "Trends in public investment – where does funding come from, where does it go; start-up costs; how has it changed over time – trends in FTEs; different kinds of extra-mural grants."
In addition to Dooley and Standiford, many other ANR, government, agriculture industry and university dignitaries are making presentations.
See the news release for more on the symposium and watch this blog for news coverage.
The slide with this post, from Standiford's presentation, shows normalized real funding for Cooperative Extension and the Agricultural Experiment Station from 1994 to 2007.
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