Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #51
SBARE Testimony

The State Board of Agricultural Research and Education (SBARE) has been around for almost 25 years and has several stated goals you can read on their website, but it is about Ag research and getting those results applied to help producers and their communities. They hold listening sessions for several days around the state to help them prioritize needs so that they can present them to the Legislature in an orderly manner. There are several departments and research centers that will present what they are working on as well as what their needs are. Most commodity groups also testify to their value as well as needs. NDSGA Executive Director Nancy Johnson squeezed a lot into her 15 minutes of allotted time including how soybeans have grown from a $250 million/yr. crop to $2 billion in 20 years. She asked SBARE to consider the following:

• Create an on-farm research program
• Establish an Extension Water Specialist
• For consideration of the upcoming Farm Bill, expanding the scope of CAPTS which stands for Center for Ag Policy and Trade Studies. 

For soybean specific requests, Nancy included the following to consider:

• Soybean Extension Specialist
• A Western North Dakota soybean extension specialist
• A Dickinson Research and Extension Center agronomist and
• Help expanding the livestock industry
• Expanding equipment storage at the REC’s

Finally, Nancy stressed how there needs to be a replacement of NDSU’s Waldron Hall (the very undersized and outdated plant pathology building which is #1 on SBARE’s priority list). There were other needs illuminated, but that would lend itself more to a magazine article. Stay tuned …