*10/23/18 UPDATE* John C. Pair Horticulture Research Center & the Kansas State University Land Grant Responsibility

Good afternoon Pair Center Advisory Committee.

I have been delaying reaching out to you until our situation was less complicated. Let me BRIEFLY bring you up to speed.

Since June 1, when I got the news of our impending closure we have had some changes in the College of Agriculture. The Dean of the College left on June 30 to become the new President of New Mexico State University. My Department Head is no longer my Department Head. New leadership is much more interested in the work done at the Pair Center. Dr. Ernie Minton is the Interim Dean, and I have full confidence in his decision making. Dr. Kim Williams has been serving as Acting Department Head for the past 4 weeks. Dr. Williams is very supportive of our efforts and I am appreciative of her leadership. Starting next week Dr. Steve Keeley will be our Interim Department Head until a permanent Head can be hired. I also have complete confidence in Dr. Keeley’s support of the Pair Center.

The task force (led by Dr. Cheryl Boyer) that was convened spent considerable time discussing ways in which the Pair Center could generate more revenue to offset our financial impact on the Department. We are moving forward on many of those ideas, particularly those that do not stray too far from our mission.

For fiscal year 2019, the center received a 20% budget cut. I am happy to report that we have already filled that gap.

Thanks to the hundreds of letters received from our supporters, College and University leadership is aware of the impact the Pair Center has on the overall Horticulture industries. I have heard President Myers on 2 separate occasions, comment in public about the letters his office received ‘from business’ across the state and region. These letters made him realize the broad impact the center has.

If you made a call or wrote a letter or sent an email…THANK YOU…It really did make a difference.

I spoke to Dr. Minton (Interim Dean) on Wednesday in Manhattan. We can expect an official press release from the University by the end of the month stating that there is no reason to close the John C. Pair Horticultural Center.

We still have some work to do that I need your help with. I want to begin working with the K-State Foundation to establish an endowment to support the Pair Center. I’m NOT thinking millions of dollars (yet). I’m thinking in the hundreds of thousand dollar range. A $100,000 endowment will return $5,000 – $7,000 to the Center depending on the year. For reference, our budget for fiscal year 2019 is $34,000 (I’m a little embarrassed to say that). You can see the impact $7,000 would make. An industry supported endowment would greatly help our facility and cement, in the minds of administrators, that the industry supports the work we do.

During the months of June – August, I had several individuals pledge financial support for the Pair Center. That support from 20 different individuals, now totals $50,000. We are already 1/2 way to that $100,000 endowment goal. I am excited about our future.

When the fall season is over, I hope we can all get together. Perhaps we should plan to get together at The Western in January.

Thank you for your support.

Jason

Supportive Facts about the John C. Pair Horticulture Research Center
1901 E. 95th St. S, Haysville, KS 67060

Reductions in base support from the state and recent enrollment declines have led to the decision to close Kansas State University’s 120-acre John C. Pair Horticultural Center in Haysville, KS near Wichita. As part of university-wide budget reductions, the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension 2019 budget was cut by $3.5 million.

K-State needs your help!  Tell us why you think it is important to keep this valuable resource in Kansas so that we can talk to our legislators about the statewide impacts of budget cuts.

We ask all of you, in the name of education and research, to help support this .

Last year we lost the Prairie Star Flowers program. We repeatedly heard from the administration team that they heard from very few people about it. Surely an entire research station is important enough to bombard them with messages. We’re asking you to help us make some noise. Please call, and call again. Leave a stack of phone call notes for them to return. Email. Send letters. Share facebook posts.

Start at the top with President General Richard B. Myers, Dean John Floros, Ernie Minton, Gregg Hadley, and Candice Shoemaker.

History of the John C. Pair Center

The John C. Pair Center has served the horticultural industries and consumers of south central Kansas for over a quarter of a century. The center was renamed in June 1998 in honor of Dr. John C. Pair.

Biography of John C. Pair

Dr. John C. Pair was the woody ornamental and turfgrass scientist at the Kansas State University Horticulture Research Center (Wichita) from its groundbreaking in 1970 until his death in January of 1998. Dr. Pair’s distinguished career was devoted to the evaluation and improvement of woody ornamental plants and turfgrasses for the southern Great Plains.

Dr. Pair’s received a B.S. in Horticulture from New Mexico State University in 1959 and a M.S. from Kansas State University in 1961. He then served the residents of Sedgwick County, KS as horticulture extension agent until 1968. Dr. Pair completed his Ph.D. at Kansas State University in 1971 and subsequently joined the faculty. His first challenge was to establish an applied research program at a still developing research facility just south of Wichita.

Dr. Pair was appointed director of the new facility soon after it began. Under his guidance the research center thrived, and together he and the facility became nationally recognized figures in ornamental horticulture. His career was filled with awards and accolades that culminated in 1998 when Dr. John C. Pair was recognized by his peers and named a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science, posthumously.

Facility Infrastructure and Assets

• 120 acres of University-owned land (rent free) that was donated specifically for horticulture research
  • Provides long-term stability for research projects
  • 6 acres of certified organic land. Obtaining and maintaining certified organic ground is time consuming, challenging, and expensive. K-State will lose this certification.
• Sandy loam soils that are ideal for growing horticulture crops Outstanding infrastructure to support research efforts:
  • 4 buildings for equipment storage, plant handling, office space, classrooms, and indoor and outdoor public event space
  • Modern, EPA compliant pesticide storage facility
  • 2 functioning greenhouses, in good operating condition
  • 2 walk-in coolers for plants samples or produce storage
  • Many tractors, planting & harvesting equipment, mechanical spray equipment, mowing equipment, utility trucks, drying oven, deep freeze
  • 5 wells and plentiful water that are a requirement of a successful horticulture research center
  • Completely fenced facility that protects from deer. Deer can completely destroy a research project overnight.
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• Over $1 million in infrastructure investment over the past 15 years with university and community support:
  • Construction of a $425,000 building in the last 5 years
  • Construction of a $300,000 outdoor pavilion
  •  Installation of a $65,000 irrigation well in the last 10 year
  • Over $22,000 in equipment purchased in 2018 alone to support research.
• Growing zone that represents half the state of Kansas south of I-70. Conditions are very different north of the I-70 corridor from Manhattan to KC. It is ideal for research on growing plants in the harsh Great Plains climate:
  • The location was selected to be halfway between the research being done in NE Kansas and at Oklahoma State. It is also one of the only research centers nationwide that sits along a climate transition zone.
• Original “mother” plants from original K-State breeding projects will be lost:
  • ‘White Shield’ Osage Orange
  •  ‘John Pair’ Caddo Maple
  •  ‘Autumn Splendor’ Caddo Maple

General Impacts of the John C. Pair Horticulture Research Center

• Provides the research space for 9 different faculty of the Horticulture Department, as well as interdisciplinary research with other departments. Research areas include:
  • Woody tree and shrubs
  •  Perennial and annual flowers
  • Fruit and vegetables
  • Turfgrass
  • Community forestry
  • Nursery crop production
  • Plant heat and drought tolerance
  • Water use efficiency
• The only research center in the state for nursery, landscape, and ornamentals. This sector of the horticulture industry in Kansas is by far the largest, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in sales annually.
• The Pair Center provides a strong, tangible connection to K-State and the value of the university to the south central and western Kansas horticulture industry and public. This is the only regional facility for professional development for the green industry. Annual field days and trainings draw hundreds of attendees from the following organizations and groups:
  • Professional organizations: Kansas Nursery and Landscape Association, Kansas Arborist Association, Kansas Turfgrass Association Summer Field Day, Kansas Forest Service Community Forestry Workshops
  • Local fruit and vegetable growers
  • Master Gardener training
  • Individual horticulture industry businesses
  • School tour groups
• The Pair Center is also essential in conducting research on fruit and vegetable production for the Great Plains. While much focus of global food research is on grains and animals, the USDA recommends that 50% of your food be fruits and vegetables (horticulture)

Partnerships in Jeopardy

• Severs K-State’s connection with the south central part of the state, including the horticulture alumni and industry through the loss of regionally relevant research and trainings:
  • For students interested in horticulture degrees (especially Masters and Doctorates), Oklahoma State is the same distance as Kansas State for this region and may likely be a more desirable option
  •  If K-State pulls resources from the community, it alienates potential students, industry, donors, and alumni
    Consistent private donations of $10,000-$35,000 annually for research and special projects
• Partnerships with the Kansas Forest Service and their tree variety research plots at the Pair Center
• J Frank Schmidt, the largest tree producer in the U.S., collaborates on research projects and donates more than $4,000 annually
  •  Certified Organic sweet potato slips are grown and sold, creating a young and growing industry across the state. K-State slips are shipped to 25 other states. Sweet potato is an excellent crop for Kansas because it is heat and drought tolerant, easily stored, and highly nutritious.
  • This is a revenue-generating project of $30,000-$50,000 per year that helps the center maintain sustainability through supporting interns, purchasing equipment, or covering budget shortfalls
• Extra sweet potatoes produced in this program are donated to feed the hungry of our community through the Kansas Food Bank

Recent and Ongoing Research Programs & Impacts

• Pine Wilt resistant pine trees are being developed. This disease has devastated pine trees across the region. The Pair Center is the only research facility in the United States conducting pine wilt research. Development of resistant varieties will have significant impacts. Successful, patented pine varieties can also bring recognition and royalties to the university and provided needed economic development to the local horticulture industry.
• American Elm variety trials to identify varieties suitable for Kansas and with potential Dutch Elm Disease resistance
•  National Turfgrass Evaluation Program tests tall fescue variety performance for our climate to supply commercial landscape businesses, golf courses, and seed distributors with localized research
• Developed, evaluated, and propagated two new Zoysiagrass cultivars released by K-State. ‘Chisolm’ and ‘Innovation’ zoysia cultivars are warm season turfgrasses that are more adapted to heat and drought
•  Rose rosette disease resistance research
• The Pair Center is developing new varieties of plants that are adapted to the prairie climate. These varieties will generate revenue through plant patents and propagation and include: Pine Wilt resistant Scots Pine, Columnar Hackberry, Chinese Pistache, and Japanese snowbell
• Sustainable water resources research as part of the Irrigation Innovation Consortium focusing on water and drought stress on turf, ornamentals, and landscape
• Landscape plant establishment research (helping protect investments in trees & shrubs that can be expensive to purchase and difficult to properly establish in the prairie climate)
• River Birch variety trials selecting for improved adaptability to heat and alkaline soil
• Magnolia cultivar trials for Kansas hardiness zones
• Woody plant propagation research to support the nursery industry
• Continued work with grafted tomatoes for nematode and disease resistance
• Crocosmia bulb research for cold hardiness
  Future Research Projects in Jeopardy
• Development of new American Elm cultivars resistant to Dutch Elm Disease
• High tunnel production of blueberries using high alkalinity water typical to our region
• New National Turfgrass Evaluation Program trials
• Production of cantaloupe in the high tunnel system
• Sustainable water use projects through the Irrigation Innovation Consortium
• Field studies to confirm performance of sweet potato and corn heat tolerance genes
• Commercial use of Eastern Red Cedar from pastures in sustainable growing media for nursery productio
• Narcissus bulb and perennialization research

Impacts to the Extension Programming in Horticulture

•  Our educational programming relies on current, relevant, research-based information to educate the industry, municipalities, and homeowners. Without local research done in our climate zone on the best plant varieties, maintenance and production methods, we cannot meet our educational mission and will become increasingly irrelevant.
•  The Pair Center has a long history of horticulture research that has shifted over time to meet the needs of the state and industry. Its loss will remove the possibility that we continue to have relevant research in all areas of horticulture, from ornamentals to turf to fruit and vegetable production and more. We lose the opportunity to address future challenges and threats, such as new pests and diseases to these areas.
• Our programs will lose an important partner in implementing horticulture education and training, both at the Pair Center and in the region. The region will lose specialist expertise, the unique educational aspects of the facility, and the resources in the future to remain relevant.
• Recent publications available thru Extension offices statewide, based on research from the Pair Center:
  • Preferred Tree List for Kansas
  • Conifer Trees for Kansas
  • Drought Tolerant Trees for South Central Kansas
  • Ornamental Tree Evaluation
  • Fertilizing Trees
  • Shade & Ornamental Trees for Kansas
  • Crabapple Varieties

Kansas State University Mission-

Taken directly from the KSU website

“The mission of Kansas State University is to foster excellent teaching, research, and service that develop a highly skilled and educated citizenry necessary to advancing the well-being of Kansas, the nation, and the international community. The university embraces diversity, encourages engagement and is committed to the discovery of knowledge, the education of undergraduate and graduate students, and improvement in the quality of life and standard of living of those we serve.

Kansas State University is a comprehensive, research, land-grant institution serving students and the people of Kansas, the nation, and the world. Since its founding in 1863, the university has evolved into a modern institution of higher education, committed to quality programs, and responsive to a rapidly changing world and the aspirations of an increasingly diverse society. Together with other major comprehensive universities, K-State shares responsibilities for developing human potential, expanding knowledge, enriching cultural expression, and extending its expertise to individuals, business, education, and government. These responsibilities are addressed through an array of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, research and creative activities, and outreach and public service programs. In addition, its land-grant mandate, based on federal and state legislation, establishes a focus to its instructional, research, and extension activities which is unique among the Regents’ institutions.

Through quality teaching, the university is committed to provide all students with opportunities to develop the knowledge, understanding, and skills characteristic of an educated person. It is also pledged to prepare students for successful employment or advanced studies through a variety of disciplinary and professional degree programs. To meet these intentions, the institution dedicates itself to providing academic and extracurricular learning experiences which promote and value both excellence and cultural diversity. K-State prepares its students to be informed, productive, and responsible citizens who actively participate in advancing cultural, educational, economic, scientific, and socio-political undertakings.

Research and other creative endeavors comprise an essential component of K-State’s mission. All faculty members contribute to the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge, applications and products. These efforts, supported by public and private resources, are conducted in an atmosphere of open inquiry and academic freedom. Basic to the pursuit of this mission is the university’s commitment to broad-based programs in graduate education at both the master’s and doctoral levels.

Faculty, staff, and administrators share their expertise through service to the university and disciplinary organizations via outreach, engagement and extension-related activities. Their work provides support to numerous projects related to the goals, missions or aspirations of the departments, colleges of the university, and to the members of the professional community. Through outreach and engagement initiatives, partnerships are established with various stakeholders to translate knowledge and basic research into applications that address public needs. These service activities are integrally related to the land-grant mission.

Extension is governed by Kansas statutes that empower elected county councils and district governing boards with authority and responsibility to assess needs and conduct a local educational program in cooperation with Kansas State University and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). A network of local extension professionals and volunteers link Kansas State University faculty, the National Cooperative Extension System to the USDA, which produces high-quality educational programs”

What is a land-grant university?