One key strength of the University of Idaho College of Agriculture over the past 100 years has been the cooperative funding for research and extension programs provided through state, federal, county, and private sources. The UI was established under the auspices of the original land-grant act, or Morrill Act, which provided 286,080 acres of federal lands to support the university and the college. Additional federal funding came to the university in 1892 with the implementation of the Hatch Act of 1887, which was established to support agricultural research, and in 1914 through the Smith-Lever Act, which was established to support extension programs.

Today these Hatch and Smith-Lever funds are referred to as "federal formula funds" and are distributed to the states based on their rural and farm populations. We received a total of $4.6 million in federal formula funds in 1999, and combined this with more than $24 million in state and county funds and more than $10 million in grants and contracts from state, federal, and private sources.

This strong cooperative approach to funding has made us more responsive to the people of the state and assured cooperative planning for both research and extension programs. Recently, a new congressional act reaffirmed the need to listen carefully to the needs of our stakeholders. The Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 requires all land-grant universities that receive formula funds to establish a process for obtaining stakeholder input and, based on that input, to develop a 5-year state plan of work on the use of these funds.

Fortunately, obtaining stakeholder input is an ongoing process for the college. Annually we meet with several groups, including the UI Agricultural Consulting Council, consisting of representatives of the major agricultural groups in the state, and with more than 40 county advisory groups and 16 commodity commissions. During 1999, we held more than 50 special meetings to provide specific input for the new state plans of work. More than 20 priorities emerged from these meetings, but the top five were as follows:

1. Better marketing of Idaho products

2. Business management training for producers

3. Small acreage land management

4. Education of the public on what agriculture is doing to protect the environment and how the agricultural economy affects communities and families

5. Waste management

Based on this stakeholder input, we developed extension and research program goals corresponding to each of five national goals established for research and extension programs by the USDA. These national goals are:

Goal 1: An agricultural system that is highly competitive in the global economy

Goal 2: A safe and secure food and fiber system

Goal 3: A healthy, well-nourished population

Goal 4: Greater harmony between agriculture and the environment

Goal 5: Enhanced economic opportunity and quality of life for Americans

For each goal, we developed program goals, specific objectives, and indicators of our effectiveness. We also included the estimated amount of time we would spend on multi-state efforts and the number of people to work in each of the goal areas. University of Idaho College of Agriculture plans of work for both research and extension were approved as of September 1999. A complete copy and a summary of the plans are available from the college.

The majority of our programs still emphasize goal 1, but our emphasis within that goal as well as our overall emphasis will change over the next five years. Based on the input from stakeholders, the major change will be to include more programs aimed at marketing Idaho agricultural products.

The state plans of work are for a five-year period of time; however, they will be annually updated and reviewed based on continued stakeholder input. If we are to continue to succeed as we have over the past 100 years, it is essential that we not drift away from our stakeholders, but continue to operate in a cooperative way, both in funding and in planning.

Five-year plan addresses stakeholder needs

A. Larry Branen
Dean, College of Agriculture