Restoring ND research budgets among key goals - Mikkel Pates, Forum News Service

Ag research: one of the top priorities of agricultural groups involving the 2017 Legislature in North Dakota. Mike Beltz is chairman of the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education, a group of state officials who advise North Dakota State University. SBARE has 15 members, including five from the North Dakota Agriculture Coalition, and five from multi-county NDSU Extension districts across the state; as well as the NDSU president, the vice president of agriculture and Extension director. Beltz says the agricultural groups will deal with budget considerations, while focusing on a balanced budget and showing legislators return on investment that agricultural research provides — $25 of return for every one dollar in an NDSU economic study two years ago, to $38 for every dollar, in a University of Minnesota study, commissioned as a third-party analysis. http://www.prairiebusinessmagazine.com/business/agriculture/4188042-legislative-outlook-restoring-research-budgets-among-key-goals