Speaking at the Oregon Seed Growers League Annual Meeting and Trade Show Dec. 5 at the Salem Convention Center, OSU College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Staci Simonich said she has approved filling 31 positions, including many new ones, in the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

SALEM — Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Staci Simonich has identified 31 positions to fill, including many new ones, in the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, thanks to a funding increase from state legislators.

Speaking at the Oregon Seed Growers League Annual Meeting and Trade Show in Salem Dec. 5, Simonich, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, said 13 of the positions will be located outside Corvallis at some of the 14 Experiment Station locations throughout the state, and several could benefit seed production, including a small mammal-vole management position within the College’s Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Services.

“I’ve seen first-hand touring with some of you the impact voles have on seed production,” she said. “We need to find better solutions for vole management.”

Simonich also highlighted plans to fill a cereal pathogens position that will open at the end of the year with the retirement of 38-year OSU veteran Chris Mundt, a position in nematology, and a wildlife management and policy position that will focus on wolves. “We’ve heard about the need for that loud and clear,” she said.

Simonich said she was grateful to lawmakers for the $22.4 million increase they provided the OSU Statewide Public Services in their 2023-25 budget, including an addition $10 million over and above $12.4 million in continuing service level funding, an increase that is part of what lawmakers called “Resilient Oregon” programming.

The programming included an addition $5.4 million for the Agricultural Experiment Station on top of $6.7 million in continuing service level funding; $3.8 million for the OSU Extension Service that came on top of $4.7 million in continuing service level funding; and $800,000 that the Forest Research Laboratory received on top of a $1 million base funding increase over its 2021-23 state funding.

“We were very fortunate after years of not receiving continuing service level to receive continuing service level along with some funding called ‘Resilient Oregon’ programming,” Simonich said. “In my 20-plus years in the college, I don’t know a time where we were able to make this big of an investment.”

Simonich said she was also proud to see Tom Chastain, head of the College’s Crop and Soil Science Department, receive the Oregon Seed Council’s Seedsman of the Year award. Chastain, who has been at OSU since 1989, plans to retire at the end of the fiscal year in June.

Simonich’s presentation was a highlight of the second and final day of the annual meeting and trade show that drew around 500 participants.

“We set some records this year on sponsorships, and we had great attendance,” said Oregon Seed Growers League Executive Director Bryan Ostlund. “It is just great to see the support from the grass seed industry. And my compliments to the Seed League Board for putting together a superb program with really good speakers.”