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Next week, in what Greg Cuomo today called a "hugely difficult decision," the herd of dairy cows at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center on the U of M, Crookston campus – approximately 235 head in all – will be auctioned as part of a budget-cutting move that will save around $300,000.
Seven NWROC staff will lose their jobs as a result of the sale of the herd. The auction will take place on Friday, July 23 at the NWROC facility.
Cuomo, associate dean for extension in the U of M's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences on the St. Paul campus, said that a pattern of annual budget reductions in recent years led to the decision to sell the Crookston dairy herd.
"What you might call the easier decisions, the easier cuts, they've already been made, and we're at the point where the reductions we have to make now are going to affect people and they're going to affect programs," Cuomo told the Times today while driving from stops in Roseau and Argyle to NWROC's annual Crops and Soils Day north of the UMC campus. "The decisions we're being forced to make now impact employees and they impact the whole system."
He figured people attending Crops and Soils Day wouldn't be shy about voicing their concerns to him about the lost herd and the signal it might send to those who view the Crookston campus, and the Crookston-based NWROC specifically, as integral spokes in the U of M system's wheel.
Cuomo said part of the rationale behind the decision is that northwest Minnesota isn't a hotbed for dairy production. While the U of M system still has a "strong commitment" to the dairy industry and still has two dairy herds – one in St. Paul and one on the Morris campus – he said the Crookston herd is similar to the St. Paul herd. "It's about looking systemwide at redundancies, and improving efficiencies," he said. "We know that impacts people."
Asked if any livestock will remain on the Crookston campus for other educational purposes, such as the Animal Sciences program, Cuomo said that's "all up for discussion right now" and that he knows losing the herd impacts more than just the NWROC, but UMC as well. "We're working with them right now to see what we can come up with," he added.
Next week, in what Greg Cuomo today called a "hugely difficult decision," the herd of dairy cows at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center on the U of M, Crookston campus – approximately 235 head in all – will be auctioned as part of a budget-cutting move that will save around $300,000.
Seven NWROC staff will lose their jobs as a result of the sale of the herd. The auction will take place on Friday, July 23 at the NWROC facility.
Cuomo, associate dean for extension in the U of M's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences on the St. Paul campus, said that a pattern of annual budget reductions in recent years led to the decision to sell the Crookston dairy herd.
"What you might call the easier decisions, the easier cuts, they've already been made, and we're at the point where the reductions we have to make now are going to affect people and they're going to affect programs," Cuomo told the Times today while driving from stops in Roseau and Argyle to NWROC's annual Crops and Soils Day north of the UMC campus. "The decisions we're being forced to make now impact employees and they impact the whole system."
He figured people attending Crops and Soils Day wouldn't be shy about voicing their concerns to him about the lost herd and the signal it might send to those who view the Crookston campus, and the Crookston-based NWROC specifically, as integral spokes in the U of M system's wheel.
Cuomo said part of the rationale behind the decision is that northwest Minnesota isn't a hotbed for dairy production. While the U of M system still has a "strong commitment" to the dairy industry and still has two dairy herds – one in St. Paul and one on the Morris campus – he said the Crookston herd is similar to the St. Paul herd. "It's about looking systemwide at redundancies, and improving efficiencies," he said. "We know that impacts people."
Asked if any livestock will remain on the Crookston campus for other educational purposes, such as the Animal Sciences program, Cuomo said that's "all up for discussion right now" and that he knows losing the herd impacts more than just the NWROC, but UMC as well. "We're working with them right now to see what we can come up with," he added.
Cuomo said the U of M continues to have a strong commitment to northwest Minnesota and the region's ag focus. "It's not a big dairy region, but it's a big crop production region that's strong in sugar beets, small grains, wheat, soils, wildlife and sustainability," he explained. "The Crookston Outreach Center is a very strong piece of our overall puzzle, it'll just be a piece that fits better now."
Asked if he had a dollar amount in mind that the auction might bring in, Cuomo wouldn't venture a guess. "The prices we'll get for the animals are obviously helpful in their own sense, but it's a one-time influx," he said. "The $300,000 savings from this decision will be recurring."
