ASRED / SAAESD Joint Spring Meeting
Crowne Plaza New Orleans French Quarter
739 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA
April 24-27, 2017
 
Participants: Bill Brown, TN, Wes Burger, MS, Jackie Burns, FL, John Davis, FL, Susan Duncan, VA, Phil Elzer, LA, Henry Fadamiro, AL, Bob Godfrey, VI, Frankie Gould, LA, George Hopper, MS, Esbal Jimenez, PR, Rogers Leonard, LA, Steve Lommel, NC, Dave Lunt, TX, Nathan McKinney, AR, David Monks, NC, Reuben Moore, MS, Saied Mostaghimi, VA, Lesley Oliver, KY, Keith Owens, OK,  Chris Ray, SC, Richard Roeder, AR, John Russin, LA, Bob Shulstad, GA, Nathan Slaton, AR, Clarence Watson, AR, and Joe West, GA
Executive Director’s Office: Eric Young, SAAESD
Liaisons: Deborah Brennan,USDA- ARS, Denise Eblen, USDA/NIFA and Hunt Shipman, Cornerstone
 
Action Items:

 Agenda#  Actions Taken
S1 Agenda – Approved (John Russin/Saied Mostaghimi)
September 20, 2016 SAAESD Minutes – Approved (Lesley Oliver/Bob Shulstad
Interim Actions – Approved (John Russin/Keith Owens)
S7 Approved S-009 FY’2018 budget $486,150 – Approved

 Minutes:
 

Agenda
Sunday, April 23
4:00 – 6:00 pm Registration – Hotel Lobby
Monday, April 24
4:00 – 7:30 pm Registration – St. Charles Ballroom Foyer
6:00 – 7:30 pm Joint Welcome Reception – St. Charles Ballroom
Tuesday, April 25
7:00 – 10:00 am Registration – Toulouse Foyer, Mezzanine 2
6:30 – 8:00 am Joint Breakfast – St. Charles Ballroom
8:00 – 10:00 am Joint ASRED and SAAESD Meeting – Gary Jackson, ASRED Chair – Toulouse Room, Mezzanine 2
8:00 – 8:15 am Welcome and Introductions – Gary Jackson
8:15 – 8:30 am LSU Welcome – Bill Richardson
8:30 – 8:45 J1 BAA Policy Board Report – Bob Godfrey, Insular Institutions’ Representative
8:45 – 9:00 J2 BAA Budget & Advocacy Committee Report – Bill Brown and Doug Steele
9:00 – 9:15 J3 BAA Legislation & Policy Committee Report – Jim Trapp and Bill Brown
9:15 – 9:30 J4 BAA Initiatives Updates:

  • Antibiotics Resistance Implementation – Ian Maw
  • Healthy Food Systems, Healthy People Funding Strategy – Ian Maw
  • Challenge pf Change Commission – Ian Maw
9:30 – 9:45 J5 ECOP – ESCOP Initiatives Updates:

  • Communication and Marketing Committee – Ian Maw
  • Impact Database – Bill Brown
9:45 – 10:00 J6 ASRED – SAAESD Initiatives Updates:
10:00 – 10:30 am Joint Break – Toulouse Foyer, Mezzanine 2
10:30 – 12:00 am Separate ASRED (Bienville Room, Mezzanine 2) and SAAESD (St. Ann Room, Mezzanine 2) Meetings
10:30 – 10:40 S1 Welcome – Bob Godfrey, SAAESD Chair

  • Approval of Agenda
  • Approval of September 20, 2016 SAAESD Minutes
  • Approval of Interim Actions
    • Appointed Lesley Oliver, KY, as Administrative Advisor for SERA-45 “Crop diversification opportunities to enhance the viability of small farms”
    • Appointed Randy Raper, OK, as Southern Region Representative on the US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative Steering Committee
    • Appointed Sherry Larkin, FL, as the Southern Region Representative on the SRDC Technical & Operational Advisory Committee
    • Appointed David Monks, NC, as Administrative Advisor for SAC-6 “Horticulture”

Action taken:

  • Agenda – Approved (Russin/ Mostaghimi)
  • Fall meeting minutes – Approved (Oliver/Shulstad)
  • Interim Actions – Approved (Russin/Owens)
10:40 – 11:00 S2 NIFA Research Report – Denise Elben, NIFA
In meeting report:

  • Is there an effort to streamline the RFA process?  Yes, trying to
  • How do we comply with “Responsible Conduct of Research” requirements for capacity funds?  NIFA is not being prescriptive on this, but leaving it up to the institution.  NIFA will review institution’s procedure and approve.
  • Appears that by 2020 the Hatch proposals may have to have more budget details.
11:00 – 11:20 S3 ARS Report  – Deborah Brennan, ARS
11:20 – 11:30 S4 Budget & Legislative Committee Report – Bill Brown and Saied Mostaghimi
In meeting report:

  • UTK added some state-specific impacts to the single ask document
  • Capacity study has a lot of good information about how these funds are used and leveraged
11:30 – 11:40 S5 Science & Technology Committee Report – Nathan McKinney and Harald Scherm
In meeting report:

  • Discussing the Antibiotic resistance report and the big data Taskforce
    • Recommend broad representation on any action committees that come from these
  • Will select multistate award winner on next call
    • Applications are doing a good job of documenting everything except impacts
11:40 – 11:50 S6 ESCOP Diversity in Leadership Task Force – Jackie Burns
In meeting report:

  • There will be a session at the ESS Workshop on diversity
11:50 – 12:00 S7 S-9, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Utilization  – Clarence Watson
In meeting report:

  • Asking for a small increase for salary

Action taken:

  • Approved S-009 FY’2018 budget $486,150(Brown/Hopper)
12:00 – 1:30 pm Joint Lunch / Leadership Awards Recognitions – St. Charles Ballroom

  • George Hopper, MS State, was awarded the 2017 Excellence in Leadership award.
1:30 – 5:00 pm Separate ASRED (Bienville Room, Mezzanine 2) and SAAESD (St. Ann Room, Mezzanine 2) Meetings
1:30 – 1:50 S8 NRSP Renewal Proposal and Budget –

In meeting report:

  • NIMSS budget increase for server upgrade, debugging and maintenance
  • Impact writing budget increase to increase in-person workshops, social media presence, and writer salary
  • Increased training would also involve other ag communicators
  • More training in impact reporting would put better info in reports, and speed up the writer’s producing impacts
  • Social media student may be duplicative of k-global, need proposal to be more specific about how student work will add valve to k-global work
  • Support $6,000 for WAAES, but not $14,000
1:50 – 2:10 S9

Questions or comments regarding continuing projects (no budget decision) –

2017-2018 Of-the-Top Funding Summary
2:10 – 2:20 S10 Multistate Research Committee Report – Clarence Watson
Feedback Requested on Joint Project Nominations for Excellence in Multistate Research Award
ESCOP’s Science & Technology Committee asks that following questions from Jeff Jacobsen be asked at the regional spring meetings concerning the possibility of joint project nominations.
Multistate Research Award – In the past few months, there have been at least two queries about submitting a joint project nomination for this Award (e.g. S and W; S and NC).  S&T discussed one instance on its January call and basically declined to encourage this for 2017.  Yet S&T has committed to discussing further and specifically addressing this in the 2018 call for nominations.  We need regional input on the topic of multiple (2 or more and of any type) projects being submitted jointly during your MRC/MAC deliberations at your spring meetings.
Please consider these questions and wherever possible provide the why/rationale for the response:
1.    Support/not support the potential for two or more projects creating a joint nomination to be submitted through one or more regional processes (note these could be from the same region or different ones).
2.    Should it advance from just one region?;
3.    Must the joint project be submitted to two regions?; if from two regions, what happens if one region says yes and the other no?
4.    Should the two (or more) projects merge, if there is significant overlap?;
5.    Nominations would stand on their own merits;
6.    Should anything change in the published 2017 call for nominations?
 
In meeting discussion:

  • Closely related projects may indicate a need to merge the projects
  • Not allowing this seems to discourage collaboration between projects
  • Directors voted 10-3-2 to leave the guidelines as they are now
2:20 – 2:30 S11 S1069, Research and Extension for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Applications in U.S. Agriculture and Natural Resources, Update – Eric Young
In meeting report:

  • First project meeting in Raleigh at NCSU on March 21-22
  • The group spent a lot of time identifying the different technologies and crops that each are working with
  • They have begun identifying common ground so they can proceed with developing protocols for multistate field trails
2:30 – 2:40 S12 Cotton Winter Nursery Update and Future Funding  – Eric Young
In meeting report:

  • Cotton, Inc. has asked that the directors consider raising their contribution to fixed cost from $15,000 to $25,000
  • Eric and Don will look into AZ & CA joining the assessment first, then a decision will be made on raising the assessment
2:40 – 3:00 S13 Executive Director’s Report  – Eric Young
3:00 – 3:30 pm Joint Break – Toulouse Foyer, Mezzanine 2
3:30 – 4:30 pm Chief Operating Officers Meeting – Bob Godfrey
5:00 pm Dinner on your own
Wednesday, April 26
7:00 – 10:00 am Registration – Toulouse Foyer, Mezzanine 2
6:30 – 8:00 am Joint Breakfast – St. Charles Ballroom, Mezzanine 2
8:00 – 11:30 pm Joint ASRED and SAAESD – Bob Godfrey, SAAESD Chair – Toulouse Room, Mezzanine 2
8:00 – 8:30 J8 USDA/NIFA Update and Future Outlook  – Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA Director
8:30 – 9:00 J9 Congressional Update and Future Outlook – Jim Richards and Hunt Shipman, Cornerstone Government Affairs
9:00 – 10:00 J10 Best Practices Session: NIFA time & effort reporting for capacity funds – George Hopper, MS and Paul Brown, AL
10:00 – 10:30 am Joint Break – Toulouse Foyer, Mezzanine 2
10:30 – 11:30 J11 Southern Regional Water Research and Extension Coordination –

In meeting report:

  • Good idea for coordinator but is full time needed
  • Not sure we need a coordinator in addition to other water efforts
  • A coordinator would improve communication and raise awareness and efforts specifically on ag issues related to water
  • Should join with ASRED to think strategically about gaps and needs that a coordinator would fill and the outcomes expected
  • Need specific timelines and duties of this person and how they’d interact with other water efforts
  • Work with Ron to set up a small group
11:30 – 12:00 pm Alligator Farming in LA – Mark Shirley (LSU)
12:00 – 9:00 p.m. Lunch, Gator Farm Tour, and Dinner Cruise

  • Bus leaves at 12:00
  • Box lunch on bus
  • Insta-Gator Ranch tour 1:30 – 3:00
  • Return to Crowne Plaza
  • Walk to board Steamboat Natchez at 6:00
  • River cruise and dinner 7:00 – 9:00
Thursday, April 27
6:30 – 8:30 am Joint Breakfast – St. Charles Ballroom
8:30 – 11:00 am Separate ASRED (Bienville Room, Mezzanine 2) and SAAESD (St. Ann Room, Mezzanine 2) Meetings
8:30 – 8:45 S14 Chief Operating Officers Meeting Report – Bob Godfrey
8:45 – 9:45 S15 Best Practices Session: Meeting Hatch Multistate Funds spending requirements and encouraging participation in multistate activities –  Steve Lommel and Saied Mostaghimi
Click here for Steve Lommel’s presentation
Click here for Saied Mostaghimi’s presentation 
9:45 – 10:15 S16 Concerns about NIFA Policies and/or Processes

  • Equipment prior approval
  • REEport
  • Others

In meeting report:

  • Equipment prior approval – taking a lot of time but response has been within 30 days.  Often want additional information
  • Hatch proposals with very basic human nutrition research have been turned down by NIFA NPL cause it’s not a NIFA priority
  • Guidance from NIFA, such as responsible conduct of Research, need more clarity and straight forward guidance
  • Increased budget detail on Hatch proposals by 2020 is a great concern due to loss of flexibility.  ESCOP needs to stay on top of this issue.
10:15 – 10:20 S17 Southern Region Joint Meeting, Spring 2019 – Eric Young
10:20 – 10:30 S18 Additional Agenda Items
10:30 – 10:40 S19 Fall SAAESD and ESS Meeting/Workshop  – Eric Young
In meeting report:

  • September 25-28, 2018 at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, Philadelphia, PA
10:40 – 10:50 S20 2018 Spring SAAESD Meeting  – Keith Owens
In meeting report:

  • April 2-5, 2018 – Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tulsa, OK
10:50 – 11:00 S21 Resolutions Committee Report  – Rick Roeder
11:00 am Adjourn