PARMA, Idaho—Since being slated for closure in 2009 and on its last breaths, the University of Idaho’s Parma Research and Extension Center has made a comeback and is now targeted for a revival.
On June 2, Michael Parrella, the new dean of UI’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, told researchers and industry members the university solidly backs the Parma station.
Parma and the university’s other eight research stations are integral parts of CALS, Parrella said.
“Investing here is a priority. I am fully committed to that,” he told members of the Treasure Valley Ag Coalition, which formed in 2009 to save the station.
The 200-acre Parma station houses nine faculty members who conduct research on many of the crops grown in the region, including vegetables, forages, cereals, hops, mint and fruit and seed crops.
The station has entomology, soils, horticulture, crop management, pomology, viticulture, nematology and plant pathology programs.
Source: www.capitalpress.com