Seven weeks after new University of Idaho President Duane Nellis and Gov. Butch Otter granted a stay of execution, it's still uncertain what will become of the Parma operation that area farmers view as a lifeline.

Some faculty members at the Parma Research and Extension Center sound glum and fatalistic. They worry that the six-month reprieve won't change anything and that a series of public meetings planned by the U of I in the next few weeks are just a way for the administration to demonstrate due process and good faith before dropping the budget ax.

Other center backers are more optimistic, taking heart in Nellis' land-grant university background and willingness to discuss the issues. They're working hard to find ways to keep the Parma center afloat.

Fruit and crop growers' groups have been meeting to determine how much they can do to help the university keep Parma's research projects alive. Specific proposals are expected to emerge soon.

The core dilemma is money - specifically the university's need to cut $3.2 million from the annual budget of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The Parma center, an 84-year-old crop-research outpost in northwest Canyon County, represents around $600,000 of that amount.

In mid-June, the agriculture dean gathered Parma faculty and staff and announced the center would close.

An outcry by growers, legislators, economic-development leaders and local officials quickly reached the governor's office. When Nellis took office in July, one of his first public actions was to join with Otter to announce they'd reopen the decision-making process and keep the center going at least until the end of December.

THINGS MUST CHANGE

From ardent center supporters to university administrators, everyone seems to agree the status quo can't continue.

"It cannot go on in the manner it's gone on before," said Parma Mayor Margie Watson, an onion grower and a leader in the effort to preserve the center. "Industry has to come in and help more, and they (the research center) need to look at how they can bring more money in themselves."

That sentiment is echoed in a "Community Engagement Plan" that Nellis sent out this month.

"The university is open to new, innovative industry partnerships that provide sustainable funding as we move forward to meet the needs of Idaho agriculture in a difficult budget environment," the plan states, later referring to "the possibility of significant restructuring."

Many area growers rely on the center for expertise and field-testing of crops and methods. From apple growers to winemakers, they say the research center's projects let them see how a particular variety of fruit or irrigation system or pest-control approach would work before they make an investment. "We can't live without it," said John Ihli, the regional crop manager for Nunhems international seed company.

Local grower groups discussed ways to support the center and plan a joint meeting Thursday. Many already provide equipment and money to help with the projects, but there's a widespread feeling that more is needed.

"The momentum's growing. We're getting everyone at the table," said state Sen. Melinda Smyser, R-Parma. "Industry is really stepping up."

Watson said: "They all have the same feeling - that we can't let these folks leave."

DISTRUST AND DIPPING MORALE

Plans for closing the center had called for consolidation with the U of I's beef and dairy research center in Caldwell. Parma's nonfaculty staff - about 15 full-timers and 50 part-timers - would be laid off, and the eight faculty members relocated to Caldwell.

Two of the Parma center's nationally known research professors, fruit expert Essie Fallahi and nematode expert Saad Hafez, say the consolidation plan is a sham that would kill their research and keep them around only because they are tenured professors who cannot be summarily laid off.

"What's the point of keeping us? I'm going to have my job but I cannot do my job," Hafez said. "I won't have the lab, I won't have the greenhouse, I won't have the fields."

He said he has about $250,000 in grant contracts that extend beyond the end of this year and could not be fulfilled if the research center closes. The six workers in his program are all paid by the grants, Hafez said.

A faculty and staff meeting is set for Thursday to discuss the center's future. And though the meeting-announcement memo from Dean John Hammel asks for help evaluating solutions, those who work at the center have little hope those solutions will preserve the center, Fallahi said.

"Morale is zero," he said. "Below zero."

Fallahi said he is not encouraged by the administration's plans for meetings with stakeholders and the public.

"It is a show. It is absolutely a show," Fallahi said.

Hafez is pessimistic, too. He noted that the faculty union raised the possibility of a lawsuit because the administration's initial decision to close the center was made without any involvement by the affected faculty.

"They didn't do due process," he said. "So now they're doing due process."

Hammel said in his memo to faculty and staff: "We know the history and importance of these programs to Idaho agriculture, and we are confident that with our best collective thinking we can find different but effective ways to meet critical programming needs into the future."

University spokeswoman Tania Thompson said it is premature to speculate on what might happen with the center but stressed, "We take seriously our commitment to look at and consider information and comments that we receive during this review phase."

TIME AND SUPPORT

The Community Engagement Plan calls for a series of public meetings across the state in September before drafting a report on the process, feedback, decisions and rationale for presentation at the State Board of Education meeting Oct. 15.

Smyser, Watson and other Parma center proponents say they're grateful that state and university leaders agreed to take a harder, longer look at the issues. But they think more time is needed than Otter allowed.

After more discussions with growers and university leaders, they hope to persuade Otter to allocate about $600,000 in discretionary funds to keep the Parma center operating for another year. That would make it possible to fully study its impact and options for making it financially sustainable.

"I don't think December gives us enough time," Smyser said. "You have to be fair and thorough in doing the evaluation."

Fallahi said he's been overwhelmed by the support he and others have received since plans to close the center were announced.

"I got 118 e-mails of support within three days and a total of 86 letters," he said.

Much of the outcry has come from national and international scientists, he said, and the national industry magazine Fruit Growers News put the controversy on the cover of its most recent issue. The headline read, "Rebellion in Idaho: Research station, slated for closure, incites grower resistance."

"People are so upset," Fallahi said. "Yes, we are in Parma, Idaho, but we have national and international reputations."

Kristin Rodine: 377-6447