Dr. George Smith, director of MSU AgBioResearch, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and the Department of Natural Resources that Michigan State University is directing state funds into climate‑resiliency research and outreach that aim to help commodity growers adapt to extreme weather and protect water resources.

"We're not gonna brag about being second to California anymore. We're gonna brag about being first," Smith said, summarizing the state’s freshwater resources and the need to use water efficiently for agriculture.

Smith described the Agriculture Climate Resiliency Program (referred to as SEEDS), established in 2024, and said the FY24–FY25 appropriations provided recurring funding to support faculty and extension positions and nonrecurring funding for competitive research grants. He said the program directed $5 million in 2024 to four projects and received an additional $5.1 million nonrecurring funding in FY25 for grants. The initial recurring appropriation, he said, funded key faculty and extension positions to build multidisciplinary teams.

Smith summarized the funded projects. The FY24 awards included: precision irrigation and nutrient sensors for tree fruit; groundwater‑use and nutrient transport modeling to inform well access and water availability; regenerative‑agriculture demonstration projects tied to economic outcomes; and pest and disease tools for tree and small‑fruit producers. In FY25 he said four additional projects were funded, including sub‑field precision tools led by Dr. Bruno Basso, an AI‑based forecasting system for crop management, drainage‑tile nutrient loss monitoring, and additional regenerative‑agriculture trials.

Smith said MSU has hired named faculty and extension educators to bolster water‑quality, precision agronomy, life‑cycle assessment and geospatial climate modeling capacity. He cited hires and candidates including Dr. Geary and Dr. Alizadeh (biosystems and agricultural engineering) and Dr. Tollhorst (agricultural, food and resource economics).

On livestock and disease, Smith reviewed the Michigan Alliance for Animal Agriculture (MAAA), a state‑funded partnership established in 2014 that he said was funded at $3 million through the MDARD budget for research and outreach. He said MAAA enabled rapid response research during a high‑path avian influenza outbreak and supports feed‑and‑nutrition research that can yield savings for dairy producers; he cited work by Dr. Adam Locke that showed feeding high‑oleic soybeans can reduce feed costs by about $1 per cow per day on participating herds.

Smith also described MSU’s Center for PFAS Research, created in response to state‑level contamination concerns. He said faculty are studying PFAS transport, uptake by crops and livestock exposure pathways and are conducting a site‑specific study on a Livingston County farm where biosolids application preceded PFAS detections. Smith told members that many regulatory questions—such as acceptable exposure levels—are decisions for regulatory agencies and that research is needed to inform policy and potential remedies.

Committee members asked about additional funding sources, workforce and processing challenges, and how state support buffers uncertainty from changes in federal funding. Smith said MSU faculty leverage federal and industry funds and cited a Project Green program that has returned substantial economic value; he also warned that several international assistance programs had been terminated at the federal level, reducing some research streams.

Smith closed by saying state investment in AgBioResearch and MSU Extension is critical to sustain research and extension capacity and to translate applied research into farmer adoption. The subcommittee thanked Smith and proceeded to adjourn.