Speeches

Remarks at Ag Progress Days, Aug. 21

Good afternoon and welcome to Penn State's Ag Progress Days and this special luncheon. I am pleased that so many of you have come to visit our facilities and to discover the many ways Penn State is helping the agricultural community, as well as the economic growth and prosperity of Pennsylvania.

American statesman and orator Daniel Webster said, "The farmers are the founders of human civilization." Daniel Webster made this point because wherever land was being tilled, communities began to spring up. Without your tremendous contributions to the food supply and economic growth, society would not exist. I think that many people in America today have forgotten our connection to the earth and the debt we owe to agriculture.

At Penn State, we are proud to be able to support agriculture through cooperative extension, through the creation of new knowledge, through teaching the most current agricultural practices, and through experimental methods. Ag Progress Days, now in its 34th year, is a way for Penn State and its College of Agricultural Sciences to demonstrate for you exactly how we are helping farmers, agribusiness, government, home gardeners, professional growers, and all of Pennsylvania. Through our work, we are addressing issues related to food safety, crop management, breeding, animal health, protecting natural resources, and agricultural production, to name just a few.

If you are not already aware of the incredible work that is done around the state through our College of Agricultural Sciences, the exhibits, tours, workshops and field demonstrations today should give you an excellent picture of the Penn State's vast reach and the incredible experience and expertise possessed by our faculty and cooperative extension personnel.

In Pennsylvania, where agriculture is the No. 1 industry and nearly one-fourth of our land is in agriculture, new technologies continue to transform many areas of agribusiness. The theme "Discover Your Future Today" is most appropriate for the year 2002.

We live in an era where improved processes and products often make or break an industry. Combine this fact with the public's heightened concern for food quality and environmental safety and you can see that agricultural research has never been more critical. Multidisciplinary teams of scientists from across the University are coming together to link with agribusiness to not only answer production questions, but to also respond to consumer interests. Closely tied to that research are extension activities that allow us to educate residents about our findings and technology transfer, which allows us to introduce new methods and products.

As you can guess, this enormous undertaking requires a great deal of support from the people of Pennsylvania and from the state itself. During this past year, Penn State faced a 5 percent cut in its agricultural appropriation from the state. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our state legislators who supported Penn State's budget and were successful in moderating the size of the proposed cut.

While we are extremely grateful for your support, we still are contending with the fact that our agricultural appropriation is nearly 8 percent less than it was in 1990 in inflation-adjusted dollars. Since 1990, we have had to trim nearly $5 million in agriculture and extension programs to cover increasing costs in other areas. In these tight financial times, it is imperative that we continue our strong emphasis on quality because it is what has allowed Pennsylvania to remain a global leader in the agriculture and natural resources.

Few states come close to Pennsylvania in the enormous range of food, agricultural, and forest products grown and manufactured. It would not be prudent to allow the Commonwealth to fall behind.

Because of our deep commitment to the Commonwealth and its people, we have been looking to cultivate new funding sources through partnerships with industry. We also have expanded many of our links with other institutions.

Through events like Ag Progress Days, we hope to illuminate Penn State's longstanding role in agriculture across the state and the nation. Thank you all for your continued support of Penn State.