Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995                   TAG: 9501120079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AGRICULTURAL CUTS AT TECH DEPLORED

In remarks prepared for the Virginia's first "Agri-Celebration" in Richmond this week, Tech President Paul Torgersen warned that budget support for agriculture at the university had been cut by one-fourth since 1990 and that Allen's proposed budget would lop off another fourth of the money needed for agricultural research and farmer education.

The proposed budget cuts, Torgersen said, need to be considered in the context of Virginia Tech's ability to work toward the goals outlined in the governor's "Opportunity Virginia" economic development plan for the state.

"If Virginia Tech is forced to curtail its support for agriculture, the economies of many rural communities will suffer directly through the loss of agricultural and forest productivity; the ability of Virginia's seafood industry to solve problems in such areas as product safety and water quality will be damaged; research on safer pesticides and fertilizers, which affect water quality in rural and urban areas as well as the Chesapeake Bay will be curtailed; extension programs to help farmers and homeowners voluntarily reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers will be disrupted," Torgersen said.

Tech also is concerned, he said, about the future of the 120,000 Virginia children involved in 4-H programs. "Curtailing 4-H will be a self-fulfilling prophecy," Torgersen said. "We will need more prisons."

The state's agriculture in a way has become the victim of its own success, he said. Farmers, he said, and other custodians of natural resources have become so productive and their numbers so small that "our voices are too low to be heard."

"Every citizen in Virginia is affected in some way by [farmers'] efforts or Virginia Tech programs," Torgersen said. "At a minimum, everyone has to eat."

Torgersen called on the farmers to raise their voices in opposition to the budget cuts. "Crippling agriculture ... research and outreach programs ... will be counterproductive," he said.