Clarification: UA agriculture cuts

University of Arizona officials clarified budget cuts for Yuma Agricultural Center and Yuma Cooperative Extension that were reported Sept. 23 in the Yuma Sun Business section.

The permanent state budget for the Yuma Agricultural Center was cut by 6.56 percent, and the Yuma County Cooperative Extension reduction was 2.5 percent.

As a comparison, the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ overall budget was cut by 8.75 percent; therefore, programs in Yuma fared significantly better than the college as a whole, UA officials observed.

"The cuts to the Yuma programs have yet to be distributed within the units but we will use every avenue we have to minimize the impact on our stakeholders," explained Jeff Silvertooth, CALS’ associate dean for economic development and director of Cooperative Extension.

Silvertooth also clarified that the Yuma Agricultural Center does grow crops as part of its teaching, research and cooperative extension mandate. When appropriate, these crops are sold and the revenue is fed back into the budget.