Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center to close

DeKALB – Lack of state funding will result in the closing of the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center in DeKalb County, which conducts research related to crop production and employs two people.

The University of Illinois has cut support and programming for four of its seven extension research facilities including the Northern Illinois center located in Shabbona.

The center was established in the mid-1940s and sits on 160 acres of land dedicated to crop science and crop production research, said Neal Merchen, associate dean for research at the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.

“State funding provided through the state budget to University of Illinois … has been dwindling since 2003,” Merchen said. “Those reductions have been modest in some years and significant in others.”

This year, the university faces a 7.5 percent budget reduction, which translates to about $3.7 million, he said.

“Until now, with the exception of some minor changes, we have not had to inflict this kind of reduction to off-campus centers,” Merchen said. “But we simply can’t get by without doing that any longer.”

The reductions will affect four crop research facilities, including the St. Charles Horticulture Center, the Brownstown Agronomy Research Center, the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center and the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, Merchen said. The Dixon Springs research center will retain its research of beef cattle and forestry.

Crop production research was the only program at the Northern Illinois center, Merchen said. The focus was on developing farming recommendations based on conditions typical to the DeKalb County area, such as how production is affected by soil types, fertility levels and weather.

State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, said that while the loss of agricultural research isn’t something he wants to see, he understands the need for cutbacks and hopes to find other ways to make up for the loss.

“I think in the shorter term, we will be able to find other ways to get the kind of data produced by the center in Shabbona,” he said, citing research conducted by fertilizer and pesticide companies and research farmers conduct on their own properties.

A total of nine employees will be affected by the reductions, including two at the northern Illinois center, but Merchen declined to comment on if those employees would be transferred to other facilities.

All the research on crop science and production at the centers has been completed, Merchen said. It’s not anticipated that research activities will resume in the foreseeable future.

“We expect budget reductions this year to be repeated next year,” Merchen said. “The state of Illinois has some real budgetary issues.”

It’s unclear what will become of the land, buildings and equipment.

“The current information that has been communicated is that a decision has been made [regarding cutbacks]” he said. “We have more work to do over the next several months concerning land, equipment and continued maintenance of the buildings.”