Robles Says Agriculture Will Do The Best It Can With $2.7 Million Budget

With a $1 million reduction to its original budget of $3.7 million, Agriculture Commissioner-designee Carlos Robles says he plans to do the most he can with what he's been given. VI Consortium caught up with Robles this week during National Agriculture Week celebrations at the Rudolph A. Shulterbrandt Agricultural Complex on St. Croix. "We'll work with what we have. My budget is now down to $2.7 million. All the departments got a budget cut about two Tuesdays ago. It was $3 million," Robles explained. "I'm going to have to leverage what we have with other partners. It could be a lot more, but we'll work with what we have and go as far as we can with the resources that are available to us." Robles made the revelation while discussing his plans to raise the profile of agriculture in the territory. "The department has its mission and "Farmer's First" has always been its slogan, and we're going to keep that," he said. "But I'm adding to this mix that I wa...