PLANS TO CLOSE UI PARMA RESEARCH STATION DELAYED
By Nick Gier, President, Higher Education Council
Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO
nickgier@roadrunner.com
The U.S. leads the world in agricultural innovation primarily because of research done at the nation's land grant universities. One of the most successful experiment stations in Idaho is located in Parma and it was recently threatened with closure, but intensive lobbying and the threat of legal action by the faculty union at the University of Idaho have forced administrators to reconsider.
Esmaeil Fallahi, a world renowned fruit expert at Parma, is responsible for the fact that Idaho now grows Fuji
apples, table grapes, and white peaches. Farmers initially thought they should concentrate on wine grapes, but Fallahi
convinced them to grow table grapes instead. In the recent years, hundreds of thousands of boxes of white peaches and
table grapes have been shipped to Asia, and this trend is increasing rapidly because of research at the Parma station.
Southern Idaho's soil and climate is perfect for several fruit varieties. The soil in the San Joaquin Valley is becoming so alkaline that some California growers are thinking about leasing land in Idaho. The Parma station is absolutely critical in servicing the needs of these new growers.
Saad Hafez, another researcher at the Parma station, brings in $500,000 a year in research and service funds for Idaho agriculture. Because of Hafez's work, Idaho farmers saved $8.1 million annually over a 20 year period. Since 1982 Hafez has identified 53 species of nematodes, small worms that infect potatoes, apples, sugar beets, cherries, and alfalfa. Hafez has also discovered two new species, the latest one named after him. When I visited the station in 2006 a number of federal officials were there to consult with Hafez about his discoveries and his general research.
Tom Elias, one of the founders of the Idaho Grape Growers Association, told me on the phone that the closure of the Parma station would set back Idaho's fruit industry at least ten years. He stated that the Taiwanese alone will take all the fruit that Idaho farmers can grow.
Knowing full well that Duane Nellis would be assuming the reigns of the UI presidency in five weeks, why didn’t John Hammel, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, wait and let Nellis make essential decisions about the university’s budget? Hammel’s preemptive behavior tied Nellis’ hands unnecessarily. According to unconfirmed reports, Hammel's own advisory committee ranked Parma third out of nine stations. Why then was Parma the first one chosen?
During a meeting with Parma faculty and staff on June 16, Hammel was hammered about the closure decision and how it would negatively affect Idaho’s economy. For weeks gGrowers and other interested parties have been lobbying their legislators and the governor to reverse the decision.
Ron Mann, founder of the Idaho Table Grape Association and former advisor to President Reagan, offered several viable alternatives to save money short of closing the station. Putting all nine stations on a four-day workweek until the $3 million deficit is covered is a reasonable option.
In response to Hammel's proposal that farmers could continue experiments on their own land, Mann explained that Hammel simply does not understand why it is essential to have separate experimental plots run by experts. This allows farmers full use of their land for growing proven varieties.
In a column in the Idaho Press Tribune (6-22-09) Parma employee Kent Wagoner wrote that Hammel's "lack of preparation" at the June 16 meeting and "inability to adequately defend the UI's position should be an embarrassment to anyone who claims an affiliation with our state's land grant university."
A spokesman for the Symms Fruit Ranch, Idaho's largest apple grower, said that the UI "has an agenda that does not coincide with the purpose of a land grant institution, and if the dean cannot fulfill that mission, then he should resign."
Gerald J. Henggeler, co-chair of the Tree Fruit Working Group and UI business graduate, told me that financial accounting at the Parma station "was probably the worst that I have encountered in all my years of doing business." What was especially infuriating to Henggeler was that, until recently, UI officials told Parma faculty that there were no research funds left for their projects even though the apple growers always got surplus project funds returned to them.
Apple grower Jon Trail is so upset about the UI decision that he has revoked his agreement to provide scholarships for students from Southwest Idaho. In a phone conversation Trail told me that the endowment amounted to seven figures. In a letter to Dean Hammel Trail states: "I can no longer be associated with such embarrassment, ignorance, and misguided decision making. I cannot in good conscience encourage students to attend your college."
The Parma faculty will be transferred to the experiment station in Caldwell but the 16 staff employees will lose their jobs. The cost of building news offices for the faculty will far outweigh the $273,810 a year the UI now pays the Parma employees. Furthermore, costly renovations at the Parma station have just been completed.
Professor Hafez says that he is glad that he still has a job, but at Caldwell, as he told a Moscow reporter, "I can't do my job." Hafez, Fallali, and bioterrorist specialist Krishna Mohan need the Parma labs and technical staff to do their work. Furthermore, there is no land at the Caldwell station for experimental plots and the 200 acres at Parma will not be maintained. Henggeler told me that if the Parma fruit is not sprayed, then there will be a threat to his own orchards adjacent to the station.
· that closing the station may violate policies of the State Board of Education;
· that due process rights of Parma faculty and staff may be violated;
· that contracts with growers may not be fulfilled; and
· that the transfer of the tenured professors without their lab technicians to the Caldwell station will make them unable to their jobs and amounts to both a demotion and a violation of their tenure rights.
With regard to the last point the union attorneys state: “If the University requires that the professors do research, but does not provide the tools, equipment, or location for the tenured professors to do such work, then the University has set the tenured professors up for failure. This is a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”
On July 9 the University Idaho announced that it would “delay any decision to close the Parma Research and Extension center. The length of the delay is undetermined at this time.” The faculty union is gratified that lobbying and the threat of legal action has led the UI to reconsider a hasty decision. It is our sincere belief that better solutions, such as a four-day work week, can be found.
Nick Gier is President of the Higher Education Council of the
Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO. He taught philosophy at the
University of Idaho for 31 years.