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The portion of the Leopold Center budget channeled through Iowa State University was reduced by $13,400, or about 2.7 percent, for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2003. Most departments and centers made similar cuts to deal with a $1.9 million budget shortfall in the ISU College of Agriculture.
About two-thirds of the Leopold Center’s budget is from the Agriculture Management Account, generated by fees charged on nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides sold in Iowa. None of the funds earmarked for the Leopold Center was transferred during the 2003 legislative session. (See comments by Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann on page 3.)
The College of Agriculture in June announced plans to close three research farms and reduce support for Ames-area farms for teaching and research in animal science. State funding for the ag experiment station in the College has dropped 24 percent in the past four years.
Hoop house research initiated in 1997 by the Leopold Center and continuing with federal grants will be moved from the Rhodes Research and Demonstration Farm, which is being closed, to the Western Research Farm near Castana. Related work that had been done in southwest Iowa on the Lauren Christian Swine Farm, also being closed, will be moved to an ISU research facility near Madrid.
A three-year grazing study, also funded by the Leopold Center, will complete its work under special arrangement at the Rhodes farm.
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