Reductions in base support from the state and recent enrollment declines have led to the decision to close Kansas State University's 120-acre John C. Pair Horticultural Center in Haysville, near Wichita. As part of university-wide budget reductions, the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension 2019 budget was cut by $3.5 million. The John C. Pair Horticultural Center opened in 1970 as the Kansas State University Horticulture Research Center with a focus on research and extension activities related to woody ornamental crop production and utilization. The center is staffed by five full-time professionals as well as four to five students that are hired to work each summer. In addition to woody ornamentals, research crops at the center have included grapes, peaches, strawberries, asparagus, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and tomatoes.  The center grows shade trees, ornamental trees, flowers, turfgrass and medicinal plants. It also sells certified organic sweet potato slips to farmers in over 20 states.

K-State needs your help!  Tell us why you think it is important to keep this valuable resource in Kansas so that we can talk to our legislators about the statewide impacts of budget cuts.