The California State University system has a strong
history of accomplishment in agriculture. The CSU has four campuses which have made
large contributions in agricultural research, education and technology transfer:
California Polytechnic State University in San Luis
Obispo; California State University, Fresno; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona;
and California State University, Chico.
The agricultural colleges at these institutions individually and collectively have been
lacking in the necessary research matching seed money and capacity-building funds to fully
address the industry's increased demand for CSU new and innovative applied research
technology development and transfer services.In 1999,
Governor Gray Davis authorized $5 million dollars per year to be set aside from the State
Budget for agricultural research and extension in eight
high-priority areas identified by a collaborative effort of agricultural industry and
Federal, State and local governmental agencies and interest groups.
These funds are divided up 6 ways: each of the four agricultural
colleges gets an allocation for competitive research and capacity-building efforts; there
are funds available for competitive research projects at the system-wide level; and some
funds are set aside for administration.
Total project funding must be matched at least
1:1 by non-CSU funds. Although the spirit of the initiative is to secure as much
external funding in cash as possible, it is allowable to use in-kind contributions to meet
a portion of the matching requirement. For campus-based projects, it is recommended
that not more than 75% of the matching funds come from in-kind contributions. For
system-wide projects, the in-kind contributions may not be more than 50%. In
practice, the greater the percentage of cash match, the stronger the proposal.
At Cal Poly, there is a strong emphasis on using the ARI to
introduce students, both undergraduate and post-graduate, to the research arena. Out
motto is "Learn by Doing" and our students are the ones who benefit the most by
applying their skills and knowledge assisting industry and academia in the process of
solving some of our most crucial problems in agriculture today.
