Plowing over agriculture - Florida firestorm

Here is coverage about the controversy in Florida about a possible cash grab from IFAS that would hurt the interests of Florida farmers. From the Feb.17 coverage:

Increasing age of farmers tempts many to grab off developer's bucks.
By JACK STRIPLING NYT Regional Newspapers
Rumors of agriculture's demise may have been greatly exaggerated, but there's cause for concern about the industry's overall bill of health, according to experts.A firestorm erupted earlier this month when Bernie Machen, president of the University of Florida, was quoted as saying agriculture was a "dying industry" unworthy of state investments. Machen has denied making the remarks, which were published Feb. 5 in a monthly agriculture newspaper. Even so, the ensuing controversy raises real questions about whether agriculture will play as pivotal a role in the 21st century as it has in the past.

Later....

A 2008 UF study placed the agriculture industry's total economic impact at $59 billion in Florida, when one includes the money spent by manufacturers that support the industry through equipment and supplies.The study itself indicates IFAS' continual efforts to prove its worth in the state.The institute, which has roots going back to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, was designed to conduct research that would help improve agriculture across the state. With extension offices now spread across all 67 Florida counties, IFAS has an annual budget of $300.4 million and employs more than 2,300 people who are supported by state money and grants.(IFAS includes the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, the world's largest research facility devoted to citrus.)
Despite its long history and sprawling presence in the state, IFAS is undervalued, according to some faculty in the institute. And while Machen contends he didn't forecast the doom of agriculture in a public statement, there are a number of faculty who now say they see Machen as out of touch with the land-grant mission that created UF and IFAS.Actually, Machen has publicly backed major initiatives that rely on the institute's expertise. He was a major supporter of building a new center to fight infectious diseases that plague plants as well as humans. The institute also has a real presence in the university's alternative energy research, which Machen has called a key priority.But when it comes to the inventions UF is pushing into the marketplace, UF has focused mostly of late on biomedical research and technology."Is ag bio, other than energy, right now a very big part of the investment portfolio? No, it's really not," said David Day, director of technology licensing at UF.
The technology research that's helping UF to secure big grants and contracts is also in part what's helping to propel the university upward in national rankings.Machen has made moving UF into the top 10 public universities the over-arching goal of his presidency, and the trustees who approve his bonuses largely grade Machen on his ability to improve numbers that matter to U.S. News & World Report.While reaching for the top 10 may sound good to trustees, the intense focus on rankings is exactly what has some IFAS faculty on edge. A faculty member, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, called Machen's focus troubling."What we read in the paper is that Machen wants to move UF into the top 10 Ivy League type of situation, and one doesn't get into the Ivy League by increasing yields of wheat per acre or solving citrus greening," the faculty member said. "(But) what is the use of being in the Ivy League if the ivy has some disease that pathology can't cure because it's been liquidated?"Faculty may be increasingly less inclined to publicly criticize Machen, and IFAS leaders aren't talking either.Jimmy Cheek, the senior vice president of IFAS, and his second-in-command, Joe Joyce, both refused to comment for this story.

TK: "What use is the Ivy League if the ivy has some disease that reserachers can't cure because they have been liquidated?" A well turned phrase, and clearly some university administrators need to educated again about the importance of agriculture in Florida.