January 19, 2018
CapitalPress.com
7
New dean named for
WSU’s agricultural college
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Washington State Univer-
sity has announced the new
dean of the College of Agri-
cultural, Human and Natural
Resource Sciences.
André-Denis Wright, cur-
rently director of the School
of Animal and Comparative
Biomedical Sciences at the
University of
Arizona, will
begin his du-
ties at WSU on
June 1.
“I am in-
credibly hon-
ored to be
joining Wash- André-Denis
Wright
ington State
University,” Wright said in
a WSU release. “WSU is a
distinguished and innovative
public land-grant university,
and CAHNRS has a long his-
tory of excellence in research,
education, extension, outreach
and societal impact. I look
forward to getting around this
beautiful state to meet our out-
standing faculty, staff, students
and alumni. I am keen to estab-
lish new relationships through-
out Washington, and to build
upon existing relations with
our devoted stakeholders and
supporters.”
Wright will take over for
Ron Mittelhammer, who was
appointed interim dean in
2013 and dean for a two-year
term in 2014. He replaced Dan
Bernardo, who left CAHNRS
to become the university pro-
vost in 2013.
Wright stood out as an
“outstanding scholar,” Bernar-
do told the Capital Press.
“He’s an extremely bright
person who has an excellent
academic record,” Bernardo
said. “And then you combine
that with a dynamic personal-
ity and outstanding leadership
qualities. I think he is a really
dynamic leader who can bring
the college together and craft a
vision for the future, and then
work to deliver on that.”
Faculty, staff and adminis-
trators who have worked with
Wright speak very highly of
him, Bernardo said.
Bernardo expects Wright to
work well with stakeholders.
“He just has that very en-
gaging personality; I think
they’ll really enjoy working
with him,” Bernardo said.
Wright has a good knowl-
edge of science, research and
development, Bernardo said.
“WSU has a very serious
role being the research and de-
velopment arm for much of the
food and agriculture industry
of Washington state,” he said.
“The leader of that has to be
an excellent scientist who re-
ally understands the relation-
ship between research and the
problems and challenges we
face in the food industry and
natural resource management,
et cetera.”
Wright brings “a great deal
of scientific depth and breadth”
to the position, Bernardo said.
Bernardo said he appreciat-
ed the industry members who
participated in the search to
fill the position. WSU collect-
ed input from every group in-
volved in interviews, including
students, stakeholders, faculty,
staff and other administrators.
Wright was received well by
all groups, he said.
“Washington State Univer-
sity is the envy of most land-
grant university colleges of
agriculture in terms of having
an industry that brings real re-
sources to the table,” Bernardo
said. “André will continue to
build upon that.”
Several members of the
CAHNRS faculty recently
expressed concern over the
role industry plays in fund-
ing research, alleging that the
college has overemphasized
stakeholder interests.
Bernardo said such con-
versations are common at
every university and college
that works with stakeholders,
including the medical and en-
gineering fields.
“Managing those relation-
ships is an important part of
any dean’s job,” he said. “We
would anticipate that will
be an important part of An-
dré’s work. It certainly was
an important part of mine and
Ron’s.”
The industry’s relationship
with WSU was a topic of dis-
cussion during the search, Ber-
nardo said.
André-Denis Wright
Wright earned his doctorate
and master’s degree in zoology
at the University of Guelph in
Guelph, Canada, and completed
a bachelor’s degree in biology at
Saint Mary’s University in Halifax,
Canada. He was a faculty member
at the University of Guelph and
the University of Queensland and
Murdoch University in Australia.
He was a research scientist for
the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation in
Australia.
Before joining the University of
Arizona in 2014, he was professor
and chair of the Department of
Animal Science at the University of
Vermont and director of the Vermont
Dairy Center of Excellence.
For nearly two decades, he’s
worked to increase the efficiency of
nutrient utilization in livestock and
to increase food production in an
ecologically sustainable way. Much
of his effort has focused on reducing
the enteric methane produced by
cattle during the digestive process.
He uses next-generation sequenc-
ing and bioinformatics to examine
the gut microbiome of animals,
including humans, to better under-
stand the interactions between host
genetics and immune responses
with gut microbiota.
Wright has published 104
peer-reviewed papers, contributed
18 book chapters, presented 98
conference papers and delivered 34
plenary lectures in 10 countries. He
serves on several national boards
and has served on review panels for
the National Science Foundation,
USDA and NASA. He has also
served as an external scientific
reviewer for the governments of
Canada, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Scotland and Switzerland.
In 2008, a new species of
ciliated protozoa, Apokeronopsis
wrighti, was named after Wright in
recognition of his contributions to
microbiology.
— Washington State University
“Serious candidates for
deans’ jobs of this nature rec-
ognize the importance of a
positive and productive re-
lationship with industry,” he
said. “We look forward to
André continuing to build that
and make sure any alleged
conflicts of interest don’t ex-
ist.”
Wright has a reputation
for working with industry
and sees the relationship as a
“very positive component” of
the job, Bernardo said.
Capital Press File
Workers sort onions in a southwest Idaho packing plant. Farm expenses in Idaho rose an estimated 2 percent in 2017 but overall
revenue rose 5 percent.
Idaho total net farm income
increased 15 percent in 2017
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Total net farm
income in Idaho rose an es-
timated 15 percent in 2017,
far faster than USDA’s pro-
jected 3 percent increase for
U.S. agriculture overall.
Net farm income, which
is revenues minus expenses,
represents the farmer’s bot-
tom line.
Farm expenses in Idaho
rose an estimated 2 percent
in 2017 but overall revenue
rose 5 percent, according to
the University of Idaho’s
“Financial Condition of
Idaho Agriculture” report.
That resulted in $1.9 bil-
lion in total net farm income
for Idaho farmers last year.
Idaho net farm income
had dropped three straight
years — 3 percent in 2014,
9 percent in 2015 and 8 per-
cent in 2016.
Low commodity prices
still pose challenges in farm
country, “But after the past
three years, we’ll take it,”
UI Agricultural Economist
Garth Taylor, one of the
report’s authors, said about
last year’s increase in net
farm income.
Taylor said the stark
contrast in the state’s and
nation’s net farm income
percentage increases stands
out. A separate report com-
piled by Taylor shows that
Idaho’s net farm income
has grown 100 percent more
than the U.S. since 1997.
“We are on a different
track in Idaho than the na-
tion is. Far different,” he
said.
The report’s authors
and private economists at-
tributed Idaho’s increase in
net farm income largely to
gains in the state’s dairy,
beef and potato industries.
Dairy, cattle and pota-
toes are the state’s main
commodities, respectively,
in terms of cash receipts.
“The 2017 year will
show solid improvement
over 2016, in terms of both
cash receipts and net farm
income,” Doug Robison,
Northwest Farm Credit Ser-
vices’ senior vice president
for agriculture in Western
Idaho, told Capital Press in
an email. “The improvement
has been led by potatoes and
dairy, with cattle providing
strong support as well.”
But, he added, “while the
dairy industry in Idaho will
generate positive profits in
2017, net earnings within
the industry remain below
historical averages.”
Despite the state’s 15
percent increase in net farm
income, low commodity
prices, especially for grains,
are resulting in many farm-
ers struggling to turn a
profit, said UI Agricultural
Economist Ben Eborn, a re-
port author.
Shelley farmer Stan
Searle said that while most
Idaho farmers fared better
in 2017 than they did in
2016, “We still have battles
ahead. The biggest issue is
there are some commodities
still below the cost of pro-
duction.”
The UI report shows
total Idaho farm expens-
es reached $6.24 billion in
2017, up 2 percent over the
$6.14 billion total in 2016.
A 1 percent decrease in
costs for farm origin inputs
and capital consumption
were offset by a 1 percent
increase in contract labor
costs, a 7 percent increase
in property taxes and fees
and a 5 percent increase in
payments to stakeholders.
Total farm revenues,
which include cash receipts
and government payments,
totaled $8.16 billion, up 5
percent over 2016.
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