UI Trying to Keep Research Station Open

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A University of Idaho official says the school is trying to extend an agreement with J.R. Simplot Co. to keep the Parma Research and Extension Center open in southwestern Idaho.

University of Idaho College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean John Foltz tells the Idaho Business Review the school is "in the process" of extending the contract. The school in 2009 reached a five-year agreement with J.R. Simplot Co. to keep the cash-strapped agricultural research center open until 2014.

The Parma center was founded in 1925 to sustain and improve the productivity of crops grown in southwest Idaho. It was one of three university research sites slated for closure because of state budget cuts.