Published Tuesday, August 27, 2002
losing agent
Zundel furloughed
By Tom Fontaine
At least one Mercer County Cooperative Extension agent is to be laid off as a result of budgetary shortfalls facing Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, said David Rynd, a regional Extension director, and county Extension Director Janet McDougall.
Penn State announced plans Friday to lay off 19 people and eliminate dozens of other positions at its agricultural college, citing state and federal funds that have not kept pace with inflation and a sputtering economy, The Associated Press reported. The college is cutting $2.5 million from its county Cooperative Extension budget, AP said.
The college's two-phase downsizing plan translates to three lost jobs in eight northwestern Pennsylvania counties, effective Oct. 1, and possibly more at the turn of the year when further cuts are to be made, Rynd said.
Mercer County Cooperative Extension will lose Thomas C. Zundel, a Penn State-funded agronomist -- a specialist in field-crop production and soil management. Zundel has worked out of the county office for more than a dozen years.
Zundel's primary role has been educating local farmers on Penn State-tested approaches to farming, Mrs. McDougall said. In Mercer County, Zundel most often dealt with corn and soybean farmers and producers of forage crops for livestock, she said. He also oversaw the county's master gardener program and certified those seeking the right to use pesticides, she added.
Zundel was also a regular contributor to The Herald's Extension Today column.
"To serve our farm population, we really have a need (for an agronomist)," Mrs. McDougall said. "But we had one of the larger staffs in the region, with six Penn State-funded employees, so the layoff in our office in the first go-round of cuts doesn't surprise me. I just hope we don't get hit again in the second round."
Mrs. McDougall said the county will likely have its dairy and livestock agent tackle some of Zundel's duties and look to neighboring counties for a crops and soil specialist's assistance.
In addition to the layoff of Zundel, two other positions in the state's northwestern region -- a horticulturist and a financial and family-resource management specialist -- are to be eliminated, Rynd said. Rynd said it was the first time he has had to lay off a worker in his nearly two decades as regional director.
Zundel said he was dismayed and surprised that his position was eliminated, considering his years of experience and Mercer County's robust agriculture industry.
Mercer County is the largest grain-producing county in western Pennsylvania and has the highest acreage of soybeans and corn grain in the region, Zundel said.
"Farmers in Mercer County may get a few big (Penn State-sponsored) programs each year, but they're not going to get the same response they've been getting. They may find themselves waiting a couple of days or more for someone to get out to their farm to give them the help they need," Zundel said.
Zundel also questioned why Penn State hired new Extension agents in other regions and, based on his own recent raise, did not freeze wages this year if its economic situation was so bleak.
Zundel said he is considering taking a similar job in Blair County, offered to him by Penn State after he was told of the layoff.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Tom Fontaine at tfontaine@sharonherald.com