Rogue Valley Growers Seek Extension Funding

(Wines&Vines) - A study of wine industry clusters around the world notes the role extension organizations have in facilitating the transfer of knowledge between government, researchers, and industry. But funding for that vital work has been under increasing pressure.

Despite the wealth of taxes the wine industry generates ($17.1 billion annually in the United States alone), extension work itself doesn’t generate a direct, measureable payback. It’s work done for the public good—supporting residents as well as economic development—and the beneficiaries are increasingly being asked to pony up funds to keep it going.

According to Philip van Buskirk, who oversees extension work in Oregon’s Jackson and Josephine counties and serves as director of Oregon State University’s Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Medford, Ore., 22 counties in the state assess residents to fund extension services.

This May, residents of Jackson County will be asked to approve an initiative that would establish a tax district to fund extension work historically funded by general revenues. But with demands on county revenues growing, the budget committee of Jackson County proposed eliminating funding for extension work from the county’s general fund in May 2013.

“There was a major outcry from our citizens across the county, asking the county commissioners to put the resources back,” van Buskirk said.

The funds were fully reinstated by the end of the year, but the threat—a reprise of a similar move in 2003—led supporters of extension work to seek alternatives.

“The friends of research and extension here in the community said this was no way to run a business,” van Buskirk said. “They said we really needed more dependable funding.”

A decision was made to seek voter approval on the May 2014 ballot for taxes to be collected within the county for the express purpose of supporting extension work—everything from food safety for local residents to outreach to commercial forestry and agricultural operations including vineyards and wineries.