Posted on 03/16/2025 4:27:24 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Two labs at Kansas State University that work on global food security are scheduled to shut down in less than a month because the Trump administration has cut off funding.
K-State will shed about 10 jobs. Abroad, hundreds of low-income students that were recruited to advance sustainable agriculture in their countries will lose funding to go to college.
The two Feed the Future Innovation Labs will close on April 12, K-State announced in a news release. The closures are related to the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
The lab was paying for about 275 students in very low-income countries to study agricultural techniques in their countries. This includes 120 undergraduate and 30 master's students in Haiti, and more in Cambodia, Ethiopia and Guatemala.
“ It’s devastating, it’s sad and it’s really heartbreaking,” said professor Vara Prasad, director of the Climate Resilient Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab. “We are talking about students, their dreams, their degrees and the livelihoods of people.”
The students generally are supporting many family members and they were learning valuable techniques to feed their communities. Now Prasad fears they will not have the resources to finish their degrees.
The lab hustled to find a way to continue its work, but the financial burden was too high.
That’s partly because the lab has more than $500 million in unpaid bills because USAID never reimbursed it for work dating back to October.
(Excerpt) Read more at kcur.org ...
If they were really interested in food security they wouldn’t have a rich peoples pet project that does “Climate Resilient Sustainable” agriculture.
If Kansas State University thinks this is such an important program, they can find another way to pay for it.
10 jobs
Pull some money out of the donations?
“We are talking about students, their dreams, their degrees and the livelihoods of people.”
How about this .... I find my social security and medicare more important. I actually paid for it.
Why are we paying college students in Foreign countries.
I think we have the same obligation to educate foreigners in their country that they have to educate us here. Isn’t that the meaning of “reciprocal”?
“...How about some private funding to support Haitian farmers?....”
The Clintonians are loaded with money. Surely, they’d “belly up to the bar” and help those poor, lowly Haitian farmers, heh???? /s
If it's essential, these countries can immediately pick up the tab.
Not only shut this down but a complete forensic audit is needed.
USAID tax dollars were paying hellholes to finance agricultural techniques for students in Haiti, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Guatemala.....countries mooching off us here by jumping our borders.
One has to wonder how many of these types of similar programs with different names are scattered through out the various colleges & universities of our nation. It used the starving children of our land until it expanded to the world, and now includes feeding starving old Jewish people appeals by Christian charities. Shouldn’t that be something Jewish people should be doing?
And the leftist sob stories keep on floating to the top of the swamp.
Going without at least one meal once a month...
Going by that old definition I’ve been hungry my entire adult life.
SNORT.
Duke used to have a beautiful campus but has jammed it with new buildings. Somehow the buildings are named for various donors, but none ever named for Uncle Sam.
Duke has $12 Billion endowment. The university and its donors can choose to re-prioritize, or not. Last look, they’re paying freshman basketball players multi-millions and the recent QB transfer $4,000,000 a year.
In other news, Kansas State Univ. current endowment 1.02 billion dollars. Cry me a river.
It’s about time for these universities to use their endowments for research such as this and student loans.
KSU has a $1b endowment.
Leaning Right insight-fully posted
The wrong question to ask is are USAID tax dollars doing any good? The facts are these:
<><>The United States is a debtor nation.
<><>We are heavily in debt.
<><>we should not be borrowing more and more money to spend on foreigners.
The right question to ask is: Can we afford these programs? The answer is a resounding no.
How can 2 labs just teaching about the basics of farming, have over 500M in bills in just 5 months??
K-State has an endowment fund of between $850 and $950 million - could not track the exact amount. This throws off maybe a million plus in interest per year.
They need to budget better for projects they say matters to them. That’s what I do after the government robs me and calls it “taxes”.
JUST STOP WITH ALL THIS USAID FUNDING WHINING. WE CANNOT FEED AND SUPPORT THE ENTIRE WORLD WHEN EVEN OUR OWN VETERANS AND OTHER CITIZENS ARE GOING HUNDRY AND HOMELESS. STOP IT. WE DON’T CARE.
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