(TNS) — Iowa County’s UW-Extension program, which provides services and education to farmers and children, is on the chopping block under a new budget proposal.
Officials are considering cuts that would reduce the county’s UW-Extension office from five staff members to one. The office is part of UW-Madison, with experts and educators stationed across the state who train farmers and provide them with resources.
In June, County Administrator Clinton Langreck directed the board’s executive committee to reduce the UW-Extension program by 5%, or about $7,000, for the 2027 budget, according to a county memo.
But the committee proposed a much larger cut, reducing funding for the program from about $125,000 to $40,000.
Iowa County is facing financial pressures, including an expected lull in state aid and limited ability to raise property taxes, resulting in projected cuts of nearly $400,000 to balance the 2027 budget, Langreck told the Wisconsin State Journal.
“We’re kind of set in a posture where we have to raise other types of revenues, of which we have limited options, or to reduce levy expenses in other areas,” Langreck said.
The county’s ongoing efforts to recover from an April ransomware attack are also prompting greater financial uncertainty, according to a county memo. The attacker deleted a “significant portion” of the county’s network, including some data that can’t be recovered, the State Journal previously reported.
Langreck declined to comment further on the outstanding effects of the attack but said the county did not pay a ransom.
The county board will continue discussions on the budget through October and plans to vote on it in November, Langreck said.
4-H PRESERVED; 4 POSITIONS DEFUNDED
The budget proposal funds just one position: Iowa County UW-Extension’s 4-H youth development educator position. It would cut support for three agriculture educators who teach farmers in the area about dairy, crops and soils, and livestock.
The county shares those positions with Grant, Green and Lafayette Counties, which is already a discount, said Lynn Perkins, a director at UW-Extension who oversees the county area.
If Iowa County withdraws from the program, those remaining counties would likely have to find a way to pick up the remaining $37,000 annual fee so they could maintain their UW-Extension programming, she said.
“There are many different ways that this can be constructed, but timing, of course, is the essence, too, because the other counties are also going through their budget process,” Perkins said.
Iowa County’s budget proposal also cuts a UW-Extension community development educator position.
FARMERS: UW-EXTENSION CUT IS MISTAKE
At a county board meeting Tuesday, Iowa County farmers and residents said their businesses and families will suffer under the proposal.
“Our Extension investment is minuscule in comparison to what we get back out of it,” said Laura Daniels, a farmer in Iowa County. “I think this is a no-brainer, and I think it’s totally crazy that we are even proposing cutting this.”
Daniels bought her dairy farm 22 years ago with no experience with grazing, she said. She turned to the UW-Extension agent, who she said was an “indispensable resource.”
In the last six years, Daniels said her family sold their dairy cows and converted their farm into a beef operation. She looked to the network UW-Extension provides to learn best practices for her new business.
“After more than 20 years of experience here in Iowa County agriculture, I understand that different farmers need different resources,” she said.
Eric Cates, who runs Cates Family Farm in Spring Green, said while he’s been a farmer for about a decade, he still regularly goes to UW-Extension’s staff with questions.
UW-Extension’s staff are a sounding board and provide research-based answers, he said.
“I could go on Google and ask a question and get 10 different answers, but it’s not going to be what works here,” Cates said. “What works with our soil, what works with our climate.”
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