Today I got a dire phone call from Dr. Kirk Pomper who works for Kentucky State University (KSU). As many of you know, Kentucky State University is behind the only real pawpaw breeding program in the USA. KSU Atwood, KSU Benson and KSU Chappell are all releases. Also, KSU does a lot to support sustainable and small scale agriculture throughout the state, holds free classes once a month, creates free educational videos and publications, sterilizes honeybee equipment, and provides valuable grants to support the work of small growers.
Furthermore, KSU has been a very long time champion in civil rights issues and supporting black students at a time when that was very controversial.
If you value the work KSU does in any of these fields and want to help out, contact the House of Representatives and tell them to support House Bill 250 Each county in KY has a different representative. Even if youāre out of state, give em a call!
If KSU goes under that means: no more KSU pawpaw releases, no more pawpaw germplasm repository, and so many other major benefits KSU provides to small and organic growers.
If things go south I am sure there will be a billionaire savior who will retain the pawpaw crew and facilities. The selling of their valuable assets such as this might be a requirement to get themselves out of debt.
Unless they grow on Mars I donāt think Elon Musk is interested. I was thinking more like Bill Gates, who has been acquiring thousands of acres of farm land.
Very Nice people I went out of thin air No one was expecting me
Had someone direct me to some people we chatted before they did,
and were engaging about the subject
After that the other people directed me to pick some free fruit in orchard
(over ripe on ground rotting , and got seeds)
A long drive , but the people are passionate about the research they do
Keep in mind not only do they research pawpaws
They have a green house with plant pathogens to see the effect on the environment !!!
WE pay tax dollars all over the USA to control this sort of thing
They are researching pathogens in agriculture , and training the next generation
as well as the research KYSU studies saves the US tax payer in the long run.
How do I know this just read the news
How much do weeds, agriculture pests , and fungus cost FARMERS , and TAX payers every year.
I suspect the situation is there are going to be budget cuts (not a closure of the university)ā¦and every department head is sending urgent messages out to their supportersā¦ādonāt let it be my departmentā that gets de-funded.
I have had situations in the past that I couldnāt pay all my bills every monthā¦and had to decide the ones that got a payment and the ones that didnāt.
Itās too bad that Agriculture may end up getting cut instead of some overpaid Administrator, some ball coach, or some questionable social program.
While Iām not a KY native, Iāve lived here for 28 years.
If I did not have an interest in pawpaws and, to a lesser degree, aquaculture, I doubt that Iād have more than the vaguest idea that KSU even exists.
Looks like some serious mismanagement of funds has been going on at KSU for over a decade.
4- and 6-year graduation rates of 15.5 and 30.3, respectively, are probably going to cause some legislators to call for some explaining and accountability if theyāre going to pony up $23 million to bail KSU out.
Iād like to think the āadministrativeā class would be thinned to ease some of the burden, but I wouldnāt hold my breath.
Amazing indictment of lack of running an institution. Didnāt have time for a full readingā¦but one set of stats got my attentionā¦theyāre not collecting things students are obligated for.
Graduation rates at the bottom among peer institutions. Yet, retention rates above average. Meaning a lot of kids are filling seats and getting grants but not getting a degree.
Thanks for postingā¦Iāll try and read the rest on a rainy day.
Farm Girl, I doubt they close the university. But, like most of us, they may have to tighten their belt during difficult times if government largesse doesnāt trickle their direction.