Letter of the day for Wed., March 2

The University of Minnesota's contribution ("Study: U has $8.6 billion effect on state's economy," March 1) cannot and should not be trivialized in the current economic climate.

The university has been the seed corn of every sector of our state's economy.

Farming, forest products, computers and electronics, medical devices and procedures, safer and more efficient manufacturing processes, world-class competitive business practices -- the benefits reach every corner of the state.

Cutting the U budget is like eating your seed corn, and as we've all been taught, you don't eat your seed corn.