In February of 2016, it was determined that there would be a 4.05% budget cut impacting state agencies, including the Williston Research and Experiment Center (WREC); it was later determined in August that there would be an additional 2.5% budget cut. This is an approximate $200,000 annual loss for the WREC.
The cutbacks are a result of oil and gas prices being down, as well as low commodity grain prices.
“My plan is to continue with the research implemented this season to completion because we’ve made major investments with our current projects. We’ve been asked by the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a 90% budget for the next fiscal year which will impact the amount of research we can do,” commented WREC Director Jerry Bergman. “It’s a matter of prioritizing. What we’ve done to date is to leave positions in both our Dry Land Research Program and our Horticulture Research Program unfilled, and then there are operational cuts.”
State agencies across North Dakota are feeling the affect of statewide funding cuts as oil prices drop and the economy shifts.
“I’m an optimist and my hope is that oil prices will rebound so that these budget cuts won’t be so severe, or permanent,” concluded Bergman.
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