If the funding is eliminated, it could mean drastic cuts and possible extinction for the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Extension Director Tom Coon said.

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

“The work that we do generates new jobs by helping farms, helping businesses and helping young people become more successful through youth development,” Coon said. “There are parts of Michigan’s economy that aren’t growing. This is one that is. It’s actually generating new jobs.”

MAES conducts research across the state on food safety, biofuels, livestock production, water quality and community development. MSU Extension applies the research to business use, job creation and youth development with programs such as 4-H, Coon said.

When Michigan lawmakers failed to balance the state’s $40 billion budget and eliminate the $2.8 billion deficit on Oct. 1, lawmakers passed a temporary budget that included funding for MAES and Extension.

But Coon said the state has withheld the money, which was scheduled to be distributed Oct. 16. He said that has raised concerns Granholm plans to use veto power to eliminate funding for the programs.

Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for Granholm, refused to comment on whether that could happen and said the higher education budget still is under review.

The last time these programs didn’t receive their monthly check, the state notified them beforehand and the funding was granted the following month. This time, no notification was given, and Coon said that worries him.

“We would be the first state in the United States to have agriculture and natural resource programs eliminated,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “All the states are racing to build a green economy. We would be a loser for sure if you take out the research and extension programs that build a green economy.”

If Granholm vetoes the funding for these programs, both would lose matching federal funding and millions of dollars in grants, which would cause an immediate loss of jobs, Armstrong said. MSU Extension would disappear completely, Coon said.

And because the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources gets most of its funding from the programs, their elimination also could lead to the college’s elimination, Coon said.

There are 15 MAES research stations statewide, including MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station in Kalamazoo County, where zoology junior Kathleen Peshek studied last fall. Peshek said the Kellogg Biological Station supports diverse research in areas such as productive farming.

“It would just be a shame to lose something that not many people have been researching on,” she said.

Coon estimated MAES and Extension have an annual statewide economic impact of about $1 billion.

Much of this impact is necessary for economic development in rural areas, said Craig Ruff, senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants, a policy research group in Lansing.

“(Those programs are) the lifeblood to many of the rural areas of our state,” he said.

State representatives from both sides of the aisle said losing the programs would be devastating in an already struggling state.

“By next year, (agriculture) probably will be our biggest economic contributor, replacing manufacturing,” said state Rep. Richard Ball, R-Bennington Township. “It doesn’t seem a good strategy to totally eliminate a crucial part of the one economic factor in Michigan that is gaining ground.”