Arkansas Farm Bureau exec backs aid request at UA; $3M budget increase urged for its Agriculture Division

HOT SPRINGS -- An official of the Arkansas Farm Bureau urged state lawmakers on Thursday to support the University of Arkansas Agriculture Division's request for a $3 million increase next fiscal year over its current general-revenue budget.

The comments by Farm Bureau Vice President Rich Hillman of Carlisle to the state House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee came two weeks after Gov. Asa Hutchinson recommended that state lawmakers boost the division's budget by $1.1 million in fiscal 2020. The division's budget in this fiscal year is $62.8 million.

Lawmakers begin meeting in regular session Jan. 14 and the legislation they consider will includes funding bills for fiscal 2020, which starts July 1.

A month ago, the Legislative Council and Joint Budget Committee recommended giving the division $3 million more in ongoing state funds next fiscal year. The division received $3 million in one-time state funds in 2015 and then $2.7 million in one-time state funds in 2017.

Hutchinson said Thursday that he decided to propose a 1.8 percent increase in the general-revenue budgets of higher-education institutions that aren't subject to a new funding formula and this increase is "based upon the financial needs that are well known at [the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences] and the Division of Agriculture."

"The legislative support is always important and I applaud the Legislature for its strong voice for agricultural services in our state," the Republican governor said in a written statement. "The advocacy and recommendations by the system presidents also helped shape the budget."

Hutchinson recommended a $1.5 million increase in UAMS' general-revenue budget, to $88 million, in fiscal 2020.

Speaking to the House committee that met in Hot Springs in conjunction with the Arkansas Farm Bureau's annual convention, Hillman said he supports the Agriculture Division's request for $3 million more a year in permanent state funding.

"I can tell you as a rice, soybean and corn farmer personally, the Division of Ag extension breeding program at the rice experiment station has touched my operation" and helped his family farm overcome a disease that "took a lot of neighbors' farms out" several years ago, he said.

Increasing funding for the Agriculture Division "is an investment in every segment of agriculture in the state of Arkansas and I know that we at the Arkansas Farm Bureau have had that as a legislative priority ... for over 20 years," Hillman said. "It is currently, and as of tomorrow, I would imagine that it will be a high priority for us coming into the legislative session."

State Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, said he appreciated Hillman's statement.

But he said, "We're looking at funding and the dollars are finite, but if we are going to fund that more, what do we fund ... less?"

Hillman replied, "I don't know that I can answer that question.

"Y'all will probably be more capable of answering that question," he said. "I can say that if you look at the dollars of the permanent funding of the Division of Agriculture, it is very, very minimal, compared to almost everything else that you all are dealing with.

"Permanent funding to have for the Division of Ag that is in partnership with the largest industry in the state Arkansas is absolutely important, of the utmost importance to us," Hillman said.

The Farm Bureau says it represents 190,000 families in the state.

Sullivan replied, "Well, we'll need your support if you want us to cut funding in other areas."

Mark Cochran, vice president of agriculture for the UA System, told lawmakers that the Agriculture Division is a partnership of state, federal and local governments and gets 55 percent of its funding from the state, but only 1 percent more than it did in 2008.

"I am very appreciative of the one-time [state] money, but ... we have to have quality people to have quality programs and there is great risk is using one-time money to pay for our salaries," he said.

The division's inflationary costs have increased between 3 percent to 5 percent a year, he said.

Cochran said the division has been able to avoid cutbacks because of nonstate funding sources and increased efficiencies. "We are going to have to start cutting programs if we don't get reoccuring dollars to keep up with our costs," he said.

The division's requested $3 million increase would cover about two-thirds of the division's projected inflationary costs, "so we are still dedicated to finding some more efficiency costs and trying to see where it is that we can trim as we possibly can," Cochran said.

"This is not going to be a good year for our soybean people and things are tight," he said. "This is going to be four of the past five years that have been tough on our row-crop people. We have eroded away a lot of the equity in our farms. This may be the very first time in my 37-year career where we may have landlords, but we have a difficult time finding tenants.

"I think that we are part of the solution to having Arkansas agriculture be a key engine for economic growth this state," he said.

Afterward, asked about the difference between increases of $1.1 million versus $3 million, Cochran said, "It'll mean we will have to cut some programs if we don't get the full $3 million, so that's what it is.

"There is still a lot of politics left to be played as we go through it and, so what those cuts will actually be, we'll make a decision at the end on how much money we actually get out of them," he said

Meanwhile, UAMS "is very grateful to Governor Hutchinson for his support and this proposed increase which, if approved, would be the first increase we have received in our general revenue budget in more than 10 years," UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor said in a written statement. "Any funding we receive would be used to support our mission of educating future physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals."

Taylor said UAMS is not seeking a general-revenue budget increase beyond that recommended by the governor.

Metro on 11/30/2018

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