The Penn State Extension office in Butler County and others across the state are in danger of being closed unless the state funding that was cut by line item veto to the state’s partial budget is restored.

But before that happens, officials at the Penn State Agriculture Council — an industry group that advises the university’s College of Agricultural Sciences — hope to shed light on the fiscal crunch of these agencies.

In an e-mail the group is asking the public to attend a House budget hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Harrisburg, and “rally” afterward to get information out on the issue.

As part of that effort at least seven county residents — including members of a 4-H club and Master Gardener programs, as well as the county’s extension board president — plan to attend the rally, a university spokesman said.

Participants will attend the budget hearing, which is at the state Capitol, and spend the afternoon handing out information to legislative offices.

The rally follows a presentation two weeks ago by university President Eric Barron in which he told the Penn State trustees about the impending closings, which would begin May 1 and could ultimately affect 1,100 employees statewide.

“Something has to give. This can’t go on forever,” said PSU spokesman Chuck Gill of the situation.

Since the state’s fiscal year began on July 1, the university has been floating funds internally to keep its extension offices and Penn State’s agricultural research program operating. The programs, which are normally funded through the state Land Scrip Fund, were supposed to receive about $50 million in funding to go alongside $80 million in federal funds for the 2015-16 budget year.

Gill said the university has pumped about $30 million of its own money into the programs, but is now reaching the end of its ability to pay for the programs without state aid.

“The bottom line is that we have not received state appropriations at all for this fiscal year,” said Gill. “This is one of the consequences for that.”

Gill said the process of closing extension offices and the programs they provide is an “incredibly complex job” because of the issues involved — like what would happen with federal, private and state grant funding that pays for certain programming — and is being discussed. But there is no plan in place for such a shutdown, and Gill couldn’t say how the closures, if they occur, would happen, or which offices would be closed in what order.

Extension offices closing would mean the shutting-down of flagship programs like 4-H and Penn State’s Master Gardener program, but would also include other, less-well-known programs. Extension offices host programs on topics from animals and natural resources to businesses, child care and nutrition.

Donna Zang, county extension director, could not be reached for comment.

Starting in May, when the university has said any closures would begin to be implemented, Butler’s office is scheduled to offer programs on starting an agricultural business, child care, food safety management, and a discussion on the dairy industry, according to the office’s website.

The continued lack of state funding also imperils federal contributions to both the college and the extension programs, Gill said. He said every version of the state’s partially-enacted budget has contained funding for the Scrip Fund, and the university believes there is broad support for those services, but needs state officials to follow through and fund the programs.

“We’re grateful for what appears to be strong support, but we need that to take a tangible form,” Gill said.