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UI gets grant to study climate changeMOSCOW, Feb 19, 2011 (The Lewiston Morning Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The University of Idaho announced the largest single grant in its history Friday, a $20 million award to study and plan for how climate change will affect cereal grain production in the Pacific Northwest. The five-year U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will be administered by the UI and shared with Washington State University and the University of Oregon. "Warmer weather and more variable precipitation are coming," said UI entomologist Sanford Eigenbrode by phone from Washington, D.C. That change in climate will require a change in how Northwest farmers operate so crop yields and agricultural jobs can be protected, Eigenbrode said. He and a multidisciplinary team from the three land-grant universities will focus on the cereal production systems of the Columbia River basin and plateau and the Palouse to adjust management strategies under the projected climate change scenarios for the region. Cereal grains are a large portion of the regional economy, with sales of $1.5 billion in 2009. That year, the Northwest grew 13 percent of the nation's wheat and 80 percent of its soft white wheat exports, according to the UI. UI geography professors Von P. Walden and John Abatzoglou said regional average temperatures are expected to rise by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. "It shifts the distribution of temperatures so that you might realize more extreme events," Walden said. That could mean decreased snowpacks due to more rain than snowfall, he said. To put a 2 degree Celsius increase in temperature in perspective, Walden said that during the last ice age, the planet was only 8-10 degrees Celsius colder than today. "So a 2 degree Celsius change in the other direction is a pretty big difference." The grant announcement brought together administrators, faculty members, students and the media -- both in person and via teleconference -- in the UI agricultural science and biotechnology buildings. Deans spoke about the importance of the research for the future of crop production, education and team building within and between their respective institutions. Vice presidents spoke of the importance of federal funding to supplement ever-shrinking state support for research. But the future of the entire $20 million grant is uncertain. With Republicans in Congress pushing for deep budget cuts, especially in the areas of earmarks and special projects, some worried the celebration could be short-lived. "All of the funding agencies are in the crosshairs right now," UI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Jack McIver said. The first year of funding for the project is committed, "as far as I know," McIver said. But funding for the remaining years will be up to Congress. Without federal funding, this type of work will be impossible, said John Hammel, dean of the UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. "These competitive grants are going to be more and more important to getting these projects done," Hammel said. Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Sonny Ramasway, speaking by phone, said projects like the climate change study are already being hit hard in current budget proposals in the U.S. House of Representatives. Defunding them will harm American competitiveness in global markets, he said. And McIver said the funding will save faculty and staff jobs at the universities, and keep some faculty members from leaving for better-paying jobs by supplementing their salaries. It will also fund more than a dozen new graduate students. The educational aspect of the project will also reach into K-12 classrooms, Eigenbrode said. The universities have already conducted a survey of 1,000 teachers to see what kinds of materials and knowledge they need to incorporate climate change lessons in their classrooms. Eventually, summer training sessions for teachers will be conducted, he said. In all, 22 principal investigators, 14 graduate students, three post-graduate researchers and several technical and administrative staffers will work on the project. Their areas of expertise include agronomy, climate and atmospheric science, entomology, plant science, weed science, sociology, soil science, ecology, agricultural economics, education and extension and information science. Mills may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 883-0564. To see more of The Lewiston Morning Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.lmtribune.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |