Ohio State’s CFAES highlights federal grant volatility, enrollment gains and Farm Science Review recovery in committee testimony

Dr. Kathleen Kress, vice president for agricultural administration and dean of the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University, told the House Agriculture Committee the college’s line items in the executive budget sustain OSU Extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and Ohio Sea Grant.

Kress said OSU Extension delivers education and outreach across all 88 counties and that the executive budget would appropriate $25,500,000 in each fiscal year to support extension programs. “Through our partnerships with county commissioners, we educate over 2,500,000 Ohioans each year,” she told the committee, and she added the college now reaches “about 1,000,000 learners through virtual education” annually.

The budget also includes funding lines for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center — just over $37,000,000 per fiscal year, Kress said — and roughly $308,000 per year as state match for Ohio Sea Grant to leverage federal funds that address Lake Erie water-quality and fisheries work. Kress described recent growth in research activity: CFAES research grant expenditures rose 14% in the last fiscal year and cumulative grant funding has increased about 52% since 2019.

Kress emphasized the college’s role in workforce development and research translation across production, food safety, water quality, insect surveillance and other topics. She described new investments and partnerships, including an NSF engineering research center on the Wooster campus focused on alternative natural rubber production, an AgTech Innovation Hub formed with Nationwide and Trimble Labs that give students hands-on experience, and a planned multi‑species animal learning center that will include a robotic dairy.

On federal funding risks, Kress told lawmakers she and the college are monitoring changes at the National Institutes of Health related to indirect-cost recovery and said those shifts “have a huge impact” because indirect costs “fund the laboratories, the equipment, and everything else that allows those researchers to do the work.” She said the college is watching whether similar changes might come at NSF or USDA, which could affect capacity funding.

Committee members asked about staffing and service delivery in extension. Kress said CFAES has reviewed extension management structures, reduced some middle-management positions and redirected resources to county-based educators and program-focused staff. She said searches for county educators are under way and that the college is rebuilding “connectors” to translate research into materials usable by county educators.

Members also asked about Farm Science Review, which sustained tornado damage. Kress said organizers expect to repair remaining electrical issues by June and to have the event prepared for September, and she said the college has used the rebuilding process to upgrade some damaged facilities. She reported continued vendor interest in major ag shows even as the college seeks to recruit newer technology vendors.

On artificial intelligence, Kress said CFAES is embedding AI throughout curricula and operations rather than creating siloed AI programs: “AI is embedded in almost everything we do,” she said, noting that controlled-environment research, the robotic dairy and Trimble Labs give students hands-on AI experience.

Kress closed by stressing the college’s student outcomes — graduation and employment rates she said exceed university averages — and by thanking lawmakers for the proposed line-item support that funds extension, research infrastructure and Sea Grant work.