By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent

MONMOUTH, Ill. — When the University of Illinois agricultural experiment station in Monmouth was threatened with closure due to lack of funds, a group of concerned citizens sprang into action.

“This diverse grassroots group – a farmer, farm bureau manager, a banker, a Realtor and others – said that the station was a vital aspect of the community and wanted to know what they could do to help,” said Eric Adee, principal research specialist at the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center in Monmouth.

“We told them that having extra farmland would help rotate our research and boost grain sales revenue, providing us with more income to pay salaries. Last year, I sold $81,000 worth of grain. With more land, we could increase that amount and pay another salary. The group said, ‘We’ll see what we can do.’”

Adee said he’s hopeful that they can continue to run the farm without additional employees. He said the budget crunch came down to either closing the farm or losing a faculty member.
“That’s the reality of it; difficult choices had to be made. And without faculty, they can’t teach all the courses,” he said.

The group formed the Northwest Agricultural Education Foundation and raised the money to buy 80 acres of land adjacent to the research station. “The foundation plans to lease the land to us for $1 per year, allowing us to keep all of the grain sales,” Adee said.
“The goal of the foundation is to preserve the research center,” said Les Allen, a local banker, farmer and treasurer of the foundation. “We’d lose 28 years of research if the Monmouth Center closed. They needed the additional land in order to be sustainable.”

“The research is of vital importance to the farmers of this area,” said Carol Ricketts, manager of the Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau. “They give farmers unbiased information based on the research that they have conducted.

“That’s why I felt it was important for the Farm Bureau and myself to get involved.”

The 160-acre research facility, established in 1980 near Monmouth in Warren County, is a productive site from the standpoints of both crop yield and data generation, Adee said.

Each year, about 50 different projects are conducted by up to 12 campus-based project leaders and the center superintendent. Subject matter areas include soil chemistry and fertility, soil management, crop production, weed science, entomology, plant pathology, pest management and environmental quality.
“It is heartwarming to see this very tangible expression of value that the western Illinois agricultural community finds in the work that we do at the Monmouth Center,” said Robert Easter, dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the UoI.

“This financial support is vital to our capacity to continue to deliver research-based information to farmers in the region. It has been a pleasure to work with local volunteers to bring this effort to fruition.”
“The farm is not a huge employer, nor does it add a lot to tax base, but it’s important to preserve the assets we have, like this link with the University of Illinois,” said Jolene Willis, executive director of the Western Illinois Economic Development Partnership.
“We are very fortunate that we live in a community where there are so many people who have been willing to help. We are very grateful for what they have done to help us accomplish our goals,” Ricketts said.