Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/31248
New York Integrated Pest Management Program Assistant Director Curt Petzoldt is directly affected by the funding reduction, which reduces his position to half time. Funding from all sources dropped from $1.57 million two years ago to $975,000 this year. Two years ago, that legislative support for community IPM was lost, and agricultural IPM disappeared as well from the governor’s budget request to the legislature, where it had been a line item. The legislature cut support by 50 percent and the community IPM program com- pletely. This year, community IPM came back, at $200,000, thanks in part to the bedbugs and in part to a new state law prohibiting use of pesticides on school grounds. When the IPM program was fully staffed two years ago, about 14 people were supported by $1 million a year from the state and $170,000 from the federal government for the agricultural program, Petzoldt said. And the state added $400,000 for community IPM. The new funding level is $500,000 from the state for agricultural IPM, $200,000 for community IPM, and federal funding is higher, at $275,000. The IPM program also gained some additional state funding last year by producing 13 manuals on organic production, paid for under contract. Still, about five full-time-equivalent employees are gone. Some retired, some were laid off, some saw the writing on the wall and found other jobs. Petzoldt himself went from full to half time, accompanied by a phased retirement in 2013. Fruit IPM specialist Tim Weigle remains full time. Fruit IPM coordinator and plant pathologist Juliet Caroll’s IPM funding was cut by half, and she found other work at Cornell to stay fully employed. Deborah Breth remains an Extension employee, but without IPM obligations or funding. “We lost key individuals to retirement and layoffs, and some staff left for other positions during the past year,” Petzoldt wrote in an open letter April 11. “This year’s funding is unlikely to allow for hiring to replace them, so responsibilities within the NYS IPM Program will undergo some shifts. There will need to be some redistribution of programming to accommodate the coming year’s funding changes. “Thus, with the budget completed, we are currently making plans to restructure. “Although it is unlikely that this is the end of our IPM funding challenge, we do know that the program is safe until the next state budget process.” • www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER MAY 15, 2011 15 RichaRd LehneRt