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Article by Stephanie Farmer
4H Office Closed!
More Closings And Cutbacks On The Horizon!
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You know,
this is really sad. In 2009, 4H will be 100 years old in Florida, but at
this time a 4H office has been closed more closures are possible, as well as
serious cutbacks.
| Statewide 4H And Extension Cutbacks
To Begin In 2008! |
As published in the Farm & Ranch News
Proposed Plans by University of Florida's
President Could Cripple
IFAS, Extension, and 4H Possibly Starting As Early
As
March 2008!
By George Parker, Jr. and Stephanie
Farmer Farm & Ranch News |
J.
Bernard Machen, President of the University of Florida (UF), reportedly made a
statement last week that has sent shockwaves throughout Florida's agricultural
community. Even Charles Bronson, Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture, is
greatly concerned
Machen is reported to have said that "agriculture is a
dying industry in the State of Florida" and "not worthy of the investments
being made by the Legislature" in the University's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).
Apparently those investments do not reach
his goal of making UF one of the top 10 universities in the United
States.
Accordingly, the $25 million (or more) in potential budget cuts
he is considering for UF also contain plans to cut a disproportionate amount of
funds from IFAS, with some cuts possibly being implemented as early as March of
2008!
Machen is considering cutting a number of faculty members from
IFAS, consolidating their educational programs, close and/or severely cut some
Extension offices (which include 4H) and make cuts within IFAS' educational
research centers.
How severely does he plan to cut? It has a lot to do
with the reaction of the agricultural community to this issue!
Is
agriculture a dying industry in Florida? "No way!" says Commissioner of
Agriculture Charles Bronson when asked that question by the Farm & Ranch
News staff.
"Florida agriculture had an economic value of $67 billion
in 2001. Today, Florida agriculture has an economic value of $97 billion. With
the "Farm-to-Fuel" program, Florida agriculture is expected to grow into a $200
billion industry," said Bronson.
IFAS impacts more than just production
agriculture. In Florida today, the 4H program, through the Extension Service,
had an enrollment of over 243,000 youth. County and City governments utilize
IFAS and Extension for their research and assistance in many issues, including
water management, recycling, food safety and disease control.
The
University of Florida can become one of the nation's top 10 universities; but
we need to educate President Machen, UF's Board of Trustees, and our Florida
Legislature of just how important IFAS and Extension is to agriculture and the
youth of our state.
If you want to know what Extension does, and if
letter writing works, click on Page Three of our website
www.farmandranchnews.com. There you will see an article on how Palm Beach
Extension was saved by letter writing. Next, click on Page Six and read an
article by a current Extension Director who explains the scope of what
Extension does.
The time for action is NOW! Don't look over your
shoulder and expect someone else to make calls and send letters to key people
about this issue. If everyone did this, it won't get done! Make sure you keep
your letters positive! Talk about how IFAS, Extension and/or 4H has impacted
you or your family. Negative and attacking emails will hurt our efforts, so you
MUST keep it specific, positive and informative. If possible, give photo
examples of areas in your life that IFAS, Extension and/or 4H has benefited you
and your family. Here are the contacts you need to make:
J. Bernard
Machen, President
University of Florida
226 Tigert Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611
The University of Florida Board of
Trustees, 226 Tigert Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611. Address it to these trustees:
Carlos Alfonso, Courtney Cunningham, Roland C. Daniels, Mac McGriff, Joelen
Merkel, Dianna Morgan, Ryan Moseley, Cynthia O'Connell, S. Daniel Ponce, Earl
W. Powell, Steven M. Scott, Al Warrington, IV, and Richard A. Yost.
Also write your Florida House and Senate members. To find them and
their addresses go to:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislators&Sub
menu=3&Tab=legislators&CFID=66063079&CFTOKEN=95039269
Sign
up for Farm & Ranch News email alerts. Just click the email link at the top
of our website or email farmandranchnews@yahoo.com
to sign up. This will help keep you up to date on the latest news and actions
being taken to help IFAS, Extension and 4H. We have also teamed up with Horse
& Pony News to help spread the word. They are also keeping updates on their
4H dog website at http://www.fl4-h-dog.com/
Personally spread the word. Email a
link to our website to anyone that might be interested in helping with this
issue. Club leaders: encourage your kids to write during meetings.
By
virtue of UF rules, employees of and staff members are not permitted to lobby
about this issue and could lose their job if they do. Thus, it is up to us to
act and act now!
We will update our website as we get more information.
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Across the
State of Florida every 4H and Extension Office has been told to be on the alert
for cutbacks and in some cases possible closures! No one is
immune.
For example: some Counties are
facing the real possibility of loosing their Livestock Agent and/or 4H agent.
Now is NOT the time to grumble, it is time to
act! Just think, if every 4H club, farmer and communities that are positively
influenced by 4H and Extension wrote letters with photos to their County
Commissioners, State Legislatures, Senators and Governor the impact that would
have on saving these programs. Don't think this
can work?
It doesn't hurt to try and the
cost is real cheap at .41 cents per letter for a stamp! So, when your kids are
bored this holiday season, have them do something that can make a difference
and write positive letters. It's our American privilege!
For more details and updates check back on this
website. To sign up for 4H alerts for your County go to
www.farmandranchnews.com click on "Shows and Events". Horse
& Pony News will continue running updates on the "4-H Cutbacks" issue,
whenever there are new developments.
Just
recently, the Monroe County 4H office was permanently closed down. In
Broward County their Extension Office was closed. All that is left of
their 4H is one agent, only.
If in January the Florida Legislature
approves the new tax cut bill more Counties could be impacted. Martin County
4H could be closed down this spring. Brevard, Duvall, Polk and
Orange could be facing cutbacks or even larger ones than they've already
experienced. In fact, from what we understand almost every 4H and Extension
Service could be impacted.
The time to act is NOW; to help 4H! We strongly urge everyone that is
interested in keeping 4H as a strong program for our youth to write "thank
you" letters to their County Commissioners and Legislatures with
photos. I recommend that 4H leaders divide their clubs into 2 groups. One
set of kids write letters during their Thanksgiving holiday and another group
during the Christmas holiday before the Legislature re-opens. Make sure these
are positive notes about the good 4H has done for you and nothing negative.
Don't think this works? In the 1990's Georgia faced the same problem with
closures and cutbacks. They rallied a positive letter campaign that caught the
eye of their Legislature. Then, they bused themselves up until nothing but
green jackets could be seen on the steps of the Legislature, while they were
battling how to handle budget cuts. The Governor of Georgia was SO moved, he
had them write in their budget cut bill that NO more cutbacks to 4H were
allowed!
This website: Is to keep everyone in Florida informed on what
is happening. If the need arises for a physical presence at County Commission
meetings or in Tallahassee information will be posted.
Horse & Pony
News and Farm And Ranch News of Hillsborough County are committed to keeping
readers updated on the pending 4-H cutbacks. You can also, go to
www.farmandranchnews.com and click on "Shows and Events" to sign up for our 4H
email alert loop. If you don't see your County, let us know. Networking and
letter writing saved Georgia 4H! Let's do it for Florida!
For more
information or to share information email
www.farmandranchnews@yahoo.com
Send a DVD of this with a note of your support
"Spend
money on the 4-H programs now and you will not have to build more and larger
jails in the future, this is a positive investment in the future of our
children."
Send one to the Governer and
the commissioners of the counties. Just click on the link below or cut and past
it in your address aera of your browser to see what .
http://www.Positive investment
in our youth.com
If you need copies of this DVD, send your request to
gcruble@att.net
Let me know the number of DVD's
Your
address, name and your club name.
Your
web master 4-H dog project
Dr. Gordon Ruble
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