Ag. Colleges, Extensions Get Budget Squeeze

MINNEAPOLIS — Agricultural colleges across the country are facing large-scale layoffs because of expected reductions in federal and state funding.

At Penn State University, agricultural college Dean Bruce McPheron expects to see up to a 15 percent cut in his budget.

Scott Angle, dean of the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, says he must lay off 18 workers and sell a farm.

Such cuts will help meet short-term funding problems, but experts say they will have far-reaching national impacts. Beverly Durgan at the University of Minnesota says reductions will reduce the amount and quality of research that can be completed at state universities.