URBANA, Ill. — University budget cuts blamed on the state’s fiscal budget impasse are behind the announced shuttering of University of Illinois agricultural research centers.

These include the Brownstown Agronomy Research Center near Vandalia, the Dixon Springs Ag Center in southern Illinois, the St. Charles Horticulture Research Center and the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center near DeKalb. The mid-September announcement, reported by the Associated Press, was confirmed by U of I officials, including Neal Merchen, associate dean for research at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).

"It’s almost strictly a budget-driven decision. We’ve managed to process annual reductions in the budget. We simply can’t continue to find other places to take these reductions," he said.

Merchen fears the elimination of programs in some of the regions will weaken the university’s outreach. "There’s a loss of connectedness with stakeholders and farmers in those areas," he said, adding the research stations will allow their fields to go fallow after the 2015 harvest – for the first time since university programs first connected university scientists with farmers in the 1930s.

The Dixon Springs facility will likely remain open, Merchen reported, but only for research involving beef cattle and forestry. The ag center currently conducts about 60 individual crop sciences projects each year under the direction of campus-based staff members, local research specialists and supervisory staff. The studies include work in horticultural crops, bioenergy crops, precision agriculture, soil fertility, soil management, crop production, weed science, pest management, soil conservation and environmental quality.

The Dixon Springs crop sciences division employs a research agronomist, senior horticulture research specialist, crops testing technician, farm mechanic and agricultural gardener, according to its website.

"We’re still trying to learn details, but it appears this decision took place at the Department of Crop Sciences level, based strictly on budget shortfalls," noted the Friends of the Dixon Springs Ag Center’s (FDSAC) Facebook page on Sept. 16. "We’re thinking that there are others just like us in these affected communities, and we might be able to work together with other center support groups to encourage a statewide reversal in what seems to be a very shortsighted decision."

The notices given to employees by the university vary from 6-12 months depending on length of service, according to FDSAC, which was established by Stephanie Brown, a former leader of the Illinois Forest Resource Center at Dixon Springs.

"Some are already actively looking for other employment, but would stay if the decision is reversed sooner (rather) than later. Some claim they won’t stay with the university, even if a reversal is achieved. That will make it even more difficult to maintain and restore operations. Morale was already very low, so this blindsided blow is like the last straw for some," FDSAC reported.

Robert Belln, who oversees the Brownstown farm, expects the facility about 75 miles east of St. Louis to shutter in April 2016.

Merchen said the cuts would only affect research conducted by U of I Crop Sciences, not that conducted by extension or animal science, natural resource or environmental sciences departments. The realignment of resources should lead to an overall strengthening of crop science programs at other centers, he said.

Unaffected by the realignment would be crop research at the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center at Monmouth, Orr Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center at Perry and the South Farms research center on the U of I campus.

Nine jobs will be lost as a result of the cuts, according to Merchen. He told the AP ACES expects nearly $4 million less in state money this year, a 7.5 percent drop following a decade of declining state aid to the university.