VIRGINIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Eddie Hannah, Chair

Hunter Richardson, Vice-Chair

KEY TALKING POINTS

1)     Agency 229, comprised of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE), and Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station (VAES) has a separate budget line within Virginia Tech.  VAES and VCE, unlike the rest of the university, are unable to utilize increases in tuition revenue to offset budget reductions.

2)     VAES and VCE are dispersed in every locality of the commonwealth. Extension professionals with multidisciplinary training in the Virginia Tech colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Natural Resources, and Veterinary Medicine conduct educational programming on campus, in all 95 counties, in 12 municipalities, and at 13 Agricultural Research and Extension Centers throughout the state. Faculty and staff members ensure that the latest scientific findings reach the people of Virginia, who use this knowledge in their daily professional and personal lives.

3)     For every state dollar of the $69 million invested in VAES and VCE, $1.44 is raised and matched in external funds from federal, local, and grant sources. Therefore, budget reductions create a negative ripple effect throughout the organizations by also reducing leveraged funds from other sources.

4)     In 2007, Extension and research programs reached more than 1.9 million Virginians and generated more than $69.8 million dollars to support research. As we seek to reduce the staggering economic and social costs of issues such as energy, environment, poor nutrition, infectious diseases, and health care, it is important that we also have an enhanced capability to place the latest information, research findings, and technologies into the hands of end users.