Granholm spares Extension, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station from cuts

Gov. Jennifer Granholm agreed to spare funding for MSU Extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, or MAES, after the programs agreed to restructure to focus on green initiatives.

Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for the governor, said these programs will remain intact when the Governor signs the higher education budget.

“As Michigan moves from rust to green, these programs will be focused on enhancing our local communities’ efforts to collaborate and innovate in the new clean energy economy,” Granholm said in a university statement. “I support continued funding for this restructuring, with its emphasis on growing Michigan’s new green economy.”

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources receives about 74 percent of its funding from these programs. MSU Extension and MAES fund 82 extension offices and 15 research stations statewide, employing about 3,000 people statewide.

Although $64 million was allocated to the two programs for the next fiscal year, university officials were concerned the funding might be cut after the state withheld their monthly payment on Oct. 16, MSU Extension director Tom Coon said.

Coon said the programs have been restructuring for the past six months to move in an even “greener” direction.

“What happened this week was, as we had conversation with the Legislature and the governor, we mentioend that we were going through this restructure” Coon said. “They really picked up on the green economy stuff.”