By Troy Fore, Editor/Publisher
Spending money is easy. Saving money is difficult. We already knew that – individually. We are now learning that lesson collectively – as a nation, in our states, and in our local governments.
Mary and I are “weather bugs” – she more so than me. The Weather Channel on cable is not enough for us. I mean, you have to wait eight minutes for the local weather to come up again. Besides, sometimes they are running “Storm Stories” or such, and the wait is up to 30 minutes. So, we both have www.weather.com bookmarked on our browsers.
Mary has an additional site bookmarked, www.georgiaweather.net, a University of Georgia service called the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN). It operates 81 stations across the state. Every 15 minutes, each station reports up to 19 water variables — rainfall, air and soil temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, soil moisture, and barometric pressure, etc.
Recently, this notice was posted on the website: “[AEMN] will no longer be operating after July 1, 2011 due to budget limitations and personnel changes…. The operation of the AEMN requires over $300,000 annually which has traditionally been provided from a combination of state funding and contracts and grants which are no longer available due to the loss of state funding and key personnel.”
Now, $300,000 doesn’t seem like much when compared to the $18 billion state budget, and the information gathered not only viewed by “weather bugs,” but provides real value for others. From the georgiaweather.net website: “A formal study by M. Z. Alhassan in the Agricultural Economics Department at UGA concluded that the value of weather information from a single station in Camilla [in southwest Georgia], for purposes of determining optimal planting date and irrigation regimes for corn, cotton, peanut, and soybean, was $847,502 per year.”
Of course, there are lots of $300,000 needs across the state budget. The question is: which to cut, which to fund?
At the federal level the decisions are no less difficult; the dollar amounts are just larger.
As I write this, the GOP and the Dems are at loggerheads over funding the current fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30. For some reason, unknown to me, theDemocrats decided not to pass the appropriations bills last summer when they were in the majority. Now, the House Republican majority is demanding billions in cuts for the year that is half gone. Then, the battle moves to the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1.
Everyone agrees that the federal government needs to spend less. There is considerable disagreement, however, over which programs should be cut. It’s the reverse of a saying I heard decades ago. Wikipedia attributes it to the late Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree.”
The problem is there are not enough fellows behind the trees. Programs dear to you and programs dear to me as well will have to be cut. And there will probably have to be some taxing, too – you and me and the fellow behind the tree.
Among the proposed spending reductions for the remainder of this fiscal year are plans to cut funding for the Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) by $246 million. Deeper cuts are likely for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2011.
There is another old political saw: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” If beekeepers want to keep honey bee research scientists at work, we have to do some squeaking. If we adopt an attitude of “everyone has to take a hit,” we will likely get more than our share of hits. We can’t sit on our hands while advocates for other programs, even other ag research programs, are urging Congress to fund theirs.
Beekeepers need to contact their Representative and both of their Senators to urge that the small honey bee research program be left intact and remain at least at current spending levels.
Point out the urgent need for a solution to CCD and other conditions affecting honey bee health.
Point out the importance of honey bees to agriculture crops: $17.9 billion by the latest estimate.
Point out that USDA honey bee research is a small program on a tight budget that can’t absorb hefty across-the-board cuts like large programs can.
Point out how important good honey bee health is to your own beekeeping business – and to the farmers whose crops your bees pollinate.
You can call the Capital switchboard: 202-225-3121(House), 202-224-3121 (Senate). Ask for the person handling agricultural issues.
Or send a message via the Congressmen’s websites. You can find them at www.senate.gov or www.house.gov.
