September 25, 2006 Meeting Minutes

SAAESD Fall Meeting
Lake Tahoe, NV
Monday, September 25, 2006
Minutes
Participants  |  Action Items  |  Agenda

Participants

Jerry Arkin, GA Susan Barefoot, SC David Boethel, LA Lisa Collins, KY Nancy Cox, KY Bob Godfrey, VI Richard Guthrie, AL George Hochmuth, FL Mark Hussey, TX Tom Klindt, TN

Steve Leath, NC Mark McLellan, FL Reuben Moore, MS David Morrison, LA Rick Roeder, AR Tom Schwedler, SC Bob Shulstad, GA Clarence Watson, OK Eric Young, SAAESD

Action Items

Agenda Item 1 – Approval of Agenda, Minutes, and Interim Actions: Spring meeting minutes and Interim Actions approved
Agenda Item 3 – SERA Renewal Requests: All recommendations from the SERA Review Committee were approved (Shulstad/Cox)
Agenda Item 4 – SAAESD Strategic Plan Revision: The SAAESD Programmatic Plan was approved (Klindt/Watson)
Agenda Item 8 – Nominating Committee Report: The nomination was accept by acclamation for Tom Klindt, TN as chair elect for 2006/07 and chair in 2007/08.
Agenda Item 9 – Resolutions Committee Report: Resolutions of appreciation were read for Drs. Jerry Cherry, Bob Westerman, Skip Jubb and Greg Weidemann, who have left the Association for other positions. A resolution of appreciation was also read for Dr. David Boethel for his role as SAAESD Chair. All resolutions were approved by acclamation.

Agenda

Time	Agenda #	Agenda Item – Presenter
8:00		Welcome and Introductions – David Boethel
8:05	1.	Approval of Agenda, Minutes, and Interim Actions – David Boethel
8:10	2.	Multistate Research Committee Report – David Morrison
8:25	3.	SERA Review Committee Report and SERA Renewal Requests – Susan Barefoot, Reuben Moore, and Eric Young
8:35	4.	SAAESD Strategic Plan Revision – Susan Barefoot
8:55	5.	NIMSS Budget Increase – Eric young
9:05	6.	CREATE 21 and ED Report – Eric Young
9:30	7.	Spring 2007 Meeting – Lisa Collins
9:40	8.	Nominating Committee Report – Nancy Cox
9:45	9.	Resolutions Committee Report – Rick Roeder
9:50	10.	Presentation of SAAESD “Gavel” to incoming Chair – David Boethel
9:55	11.	Closing Remarks and Announcements – Susan Barefoot
10:00		Adjourn
		Written Reports: ASRED report to SAAESD – Sept. 2006

AGENDA BRIEFS

Agenda Item 1.
Approval of Agenda, Minutes, and Interim Actions

Presenter: David Boethel
Background:

• Agenda
• Minutes from the April 2006 Spring meeting in Tunica, MS

• Interim Actions:

• Appointed Winston Hagler, (NC) as Administrative Advisor to S1020 “Enhancing Reproductive Efficiency of Poultry”
• Appointed Ron Lacewell, (TX) as Administrative Advisor to S1025 “Systems for Controlling Air Pollutant Emissions and Indoor Environments of Poultry, Swine, and Dairy Facilities”
• Appointed Clarence Watson, (OK) as Administrative Advisor to S304 (SDC317) “Genetic improvement approaches to sustained, profitable cotton production in the United States”
• Appointed Bill McCutchen, (TX) as Administrative Advisor to SAC12 “Entomology”
• Appointed Nancy Cox (KY) as Chair of the SAAESD Nominating Committee
• Appointed Susan Barefoot (SC) to serve on the SAAESD Nominating Committee
• Appointed Greg Weidemann (AR) to serve on the SAAESD Nominating Committee
• Appointed Eric Young (NC) as as Administrative Advisor to NRSP-8 “National Animal Genome Research Program” for the Southern Region.
• Appointed Rick Roeder (AR) as Administrative Advisor to SDC320 (NEW) “Integrative Functional and Physiological Genomics of Poultry”
• Appointed Susan Barefoot (SC) as Administrative Advisor to SDC311 (S292) “The Poultry Food System: A Farm to Table Model”
• Appointed Richard Guthries (AL) as Administrative Advisor to NRSP6 “Introduction, Preservation, Classification, Distribution and Evaluation of Solanum Species” for the Southern Region.
• Appointed Mary Hussey (TX) as Administrative Advisor to SERA06 “Methodology, Intepretation, and Implementation of Soil, Plant, Byproduct, and Water Analyses”
• Appointed Craig Nessler (VA) as Administrative Advisor to S1003 “Variety and Quality Evaluation of Virginia-type Peanuts”
• Appointed George Hochmuth (FL) as Administrative Advisor to SERA25 “Turf”
• Appointed David Boethel (LA) as Chair-Elect of the ESCOP Budget and Legislative Committee for a 0ne-year term and also Chair of the committee for a two-year term starting in 2007.
• Appointed Clarence Watson (OK) as the Southern Region Representative to the ESCOP Science and Technology Committee

Action Requested: Approval of agenda, minutes, and interim actions.
Action Taken: Spring meeting minutes and Interim Actions approved
 

Agenda Item 2.
Multistate Research Committee Report

Presenter: David Morrison
Background:
Current Status:
The Southern MRC is composed of Tom Klindt, David Morrison (chair), Craig Nessler, Clarence Watson, Dan Kugler, and Eric Young. Since the 2006 Spring Meeting, the MRC has reviewed four multi-state research project proposals. None of the four were approved upon initial review and were sent back to the AA for revision with one of the four being returned for a second revision. The most common deficiencies observed by committee members were as follows: 1) failure to discuss the accomplishments achieved under the previous project (if the proposal was for a replacement project) and relating this to those areas needing further research in the new project, 2) failure to clearly indicate the level of participation of each participating institution for each objective, 3) failure to adequately indicate collaboration and interdependence among participants. AAs are urged to provide proposal-writing committees with copies of Appendix H (Appendix H), which will alert these committees to the evaluation criteria being used by the MRC. This should help facilitate an increase in the number of proposals approved after initial MRC review.
Of the four proposals reviewed since April, two have been approved as S-1027 and S-1028. In addition, one proposal reviewed by the MRC prior to the Spring Meeting was approved in May as S-1026.
For more specific information on the status of terminating, extended, replacement, and newly proposed MRC activities, please click MRC REPORT.
 
Action Requested:For Information Only
 
Agenda Item 3.

SERA Review Committee Report and SERA Renewal Requests

Presenter: Susan Barefoot, Reuben Moore & Eric Young
Background:
It is recommended that ASRED/SAAESD consider the following actions regarding SERA proposals.
SERA-3 ” Southern Region Information Exchange Group for IPM “ – Approve additional 4 years, with a new termination date of September 30, 2010
SERA-25 “Turf”– Approve a one-year extension with major modifications and an additional 4 years upon receipt of a revised proposal, which addresses the following:

• Update the participant information including name, institution/organization and primary functional assignment (research, extension, or other).
• Begin submitting annual reports into NIMSS after the next project meeting provide a description of potential tangible outputs, such as development of extension educational materials.
• Describe potential alternate funding opportunities that may be pursued in the future.
• Describe potential external partnerships that may be formed in the future to enhance the activity’s impact.
• Describe potential impacts for both research and extension.

 
SERA-30 “Southern Natural Resource Economics Committee” – Approve additional 3 years, with a new termination date of September 30, 2009
 
Action Requested: Approval of SERA Review Task Force Committee recommendations.
Action Taken: All recommendations from the SERA Review Committee were approved (Shulstad/Cox)
 

Agenda Item 4.
SAAESD Strategic Plan Revision

Presenter: Susan Barefoot
Background:
Based on input at the Spring meeting in Tunica, MS, the Planning Committee has revised the 2006-11 SAAESD Programmatic Plan to add new high priority areas for multistate research and eliminate low priority areas (see the SAAESD Research Priorities, 2006-2011). Also, the plan has been reorganized to show how it addresses the challenges and objectives in the updated Science Roadmap for Agriculture, which serves as the Experiment Station Section long-range programmatic plan.
 
Action Requested: Approval of the 2006-11 SAAESD Programmatic Plan
Action Taken: The SAAESD Programmatic Plan was approved (Klindt/Watson)
 

Agenda Item 5.
NIMSS Budget Increase

Presenter: Eric Young
Background:
The NIMSS Oversight Committee met by teleconference on August 22. The Committee discussed the proposal to increase the annual support to NIMSS through NRSP-1, from $32,500 to $50,000. This increase will allow the budget to cover the full cost of maintaining and improving the NIMSS system, including a dedicated part-time programmer. The committee unanimously approved the proposal, which will be submitted with next year’s NRSP-1 off-the-top budget request for FY2007-2008. See NIMSSProposal-11.
 
Action Requested: For Information only.
 

Agenda Item 6.
CREATE 21 and ED Report

Presenter: Eric Young
Background:
SAAESD
Grantsmanship Workshops
SAAESD is co-sponsoring two CSREES Competitive Programs and Writing Successful Grants workshops this fall, one with NERA in Washington, D.C. on September 6-7, 2006 and one with WAAESD in Dallas on October 17-18, which is being organized and hosted jointly by UAR, TAMU, and OK State. Both of these involve two separate workshops held back-to-back, one conducted by CSREES focused on their competitive programs and the other conducted by Tom Fretz and Mike Harrington focused on skills for successful grant writing applicable to any granting agency. Also, a Writing Successful Grants workshop was held in San Juan, PR on August 28, which was targeted at UPR and UVI faculty, as well as the gulf state’s institutions.
National Berry Crops and Vegetable Crops Initiatives
SAAESD has supported the National Berry Crops Initiative (NBCI), which is a partnership of industry, academia and government formed in Spring 2005 to develop a strategic plan for the continued growth and sustainability of berry crop production in the United States. Workshops were held to bring together the planning committee with growers, researchers, extension, and other industry representatives to develop the strategic plan and put it in action. The details of the NBCI can be seen on it’s web site athttp://www.nationalberrycrops.org/ . A planning committee has been formed now to develop a similar strategic plan for vegetable crops. The committee is having monthly conference calls and had its first meeting in D.C. on September 11.
Cotton Winter Nursery
In response to infrastructure needs to support the Cotton Winter Nursery at the Tecoman Experiment Station, Colima, Mexico, the Southern Experiment Station Directors and ARS jointly committed $25,000 per year for five years to support these needs. Funds over the past year have been used to finish payment for the drip irrigation system, replace the 20 year-old irrigation well and well pump motor, and purchase a new mist sprayer with utility trailer and ATV-4 wheel drive. Future needs for CWN operations include purchasing a 16″ laboratory roller gin for long staple cotton and small samples and repair or replace the saw gins.
Southern Region Administrative Heads and CARET Meeting
The Southern Region Administrative Heads invited the Executive Director and Chair of SAAESD and ASRED to participate in their meeting with the region’s CARET delegates on August 7-8 at UT Knoxville. David Boethel and I attended this meeting and I reported on activities of SAAESD and ESCOP. The meeting included a presentation on the SunGrant program in the southeast region by Tim Rails and three faculty working in economic, biological, and technological aspects of cellulosic material conversion to energy and other high value products. There was also a lengthy discussion of CREATE-21 by the CARET delegates and administrative heads that attended.
ASRED Fall Meeting
I attended the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors fall meeting in Puerto Rico in my role as SAAESD liaison with that group. This meeting was concurrent with the 1890’s Association of Extension Directors’ meeting and included a half-day joint session. Among the issues discussed were the urban research and extension initiative put forth by NASULGC’s Commission on the Urban Agenda; declining relations with national commodity associations based on a recent refusal of the National Beef and Cattleman’s Association to support an eXtension initiative in that area; and the slow release of EPA funds by CSREES for pesticide education programs.
ASERTTI Fall Conference
As a spin-off from my involvement in the NASULGC/DOE collaboration, I have had numerous conversations this past year with the current chair and Executive Director of ASERTTI (Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions). The ASERTTI leadership is interested in developing closer relationships with our colleges and research faculty who work in energy related areas. To help facilitate this, I was asked to organize two presentations at their conference in October on topics of interest to their membership. One presentation will be on SunGrant, given by Tim Rails (UT Knoxville), and the other will explain our multistate research project system, with an overview of the system by me and a summary of S-1007 by Roland Mote, as an example of an active multistate project. ASERTTI leadership is particularly interested in how we manage multistate activities because they would like to increase their efforts in that area.
Experiment Station Database
The southern region extension directors submit various types of financial and personnel data each year to an on-line database so that regional averages can be easily obtained and used as comparison for legislative and other purposes. Last spring SAAESD approved, in principle, collecting similar data for the experiment stations. It is anticipated that directors will complete the data entry each November for use during the following year, particularly during the legislative sessions. It is understood that in public presentations only regional averages will be used, rather than individual state data, to compare with their own state data. When placed on-line, data will be password-protected and individual state data will not be shared. See the attached document for a list of proposed data elements.
SAAESD Assignments
S-1014, Mineral Controls on P Retention and Release in Soils and Soil Amendments, Administrative Advisor
AC-6, Horticulture, Administrative Advisor
Joint Cotton Breeding Advisory Committee and Tecoman Winter Nursery Steering Committee
Southern Region IPM Center Steering Committee
T-STAR Caribbean Basin Advisory Group
Liaison to the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors
Liaison to the Association of Research Directors (1890s)
ESCOP
CREATE-21
ESCOP and the experiment station directors have had numerous updates and discussions regarding the CREATE-21 proposal in various forums, including a May 5 conference call for ESCOP, a June 30 conference call for all SAES directors, and regional meetings during July. Experiment Station representatives on the CREATE-21 Committee are Steve Slack (OH), Mike Harrington (WAAESD), and Daryl Lund (NCRA). At it’s meeting on July 25 in Portland, OR, ESCOP voted unanimously to endorse the current CREATE-21 proposal and to encourage the experiment station directors to support moving forward with development of legislative language from the proposal for possible inclusion in the Farm Bill.
President’s 07 Budget Proposal to Change Hatch Distribution
ESCOP agreed at it’s meeting Feb 27, to designate a small group of directors to meet with CSREES to discuss how a multistate competitive program might be implemented. This in no way changes the opposition that the directors have to implementing such a plan for FY 07, but if new funds were available, this type of program may be considered. Six members (1 from each 1862 region and 2 EDs) met over three months with an equivalent group from CSREES to develop an implementation plan for the President’s FY 07 budget (i.e. a multistate, competitively awarded proposal program), which they were required to do as an agency of the Executive Branch. Complete details of the proposed competitive multistate research program and a draft RFA were posted on the CSREES web site and comments solicited from the system.
Science Roadmap for Agriculture Update
The Science & Technology Committee conducted a survey in late 2004 and early 2005 to determine current priorities and needs relative to the challenge areas and objectives outlined in “A Science Roadmap for Agriculture” published in 2001. Bruce Gage (University of Kentucky), who designed and conducted the survey, has produced a report that summarizes the survey results and analysis. Based on the survey results, the S&T Committee has produced a Roadmap Update brochure with the modified challenges areas and objectives and other pertinent information from the survey. The detailed survey report and Update brochure are both available on the ESCOP Infobook web site athttp://cipm.ncsu.edu/escop/infobook.htm.
NRI Priorities
The Science & Technology Committee has been charged with developing a process for experiment station directors to have formal input into annual NRI program priorities. The updated Roadmap challenges and objectives are being used as the framework for the recommendations given to NRI. Preliminary input on priorities has been obtained from experiment station, extension, and academic program directors through an on-line survey. Breakout groups at the SAES/ARD Workshop September 26 will use this input to further refine the experiment station directors’ recommendation to CSREES on NRI funding priorities for 2008.
Federal Budget Priorities
Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, Animal Health, and the NRI remain the top budget priorities for the Experiment Station Section. Below are the Section’s programmatic priority areas for FY 08 (as of mid-July 06). These will be revisited in a Workshop session on September 27.

Broad Category	Rank	Issue	Rank
Environment	1	Water Quality and Quantity	1
		Invasive Species	2
		Global Climate Change	3
		Land-Use Issues
		Bio-based Products
		Risk Management/Risk Assessment
Food, Nutrition and Health	1	Food Safety	1
		Obesity/Consumer Behavior	2
		Functional Foods/Nutraceuticals	3
Genomics	2	Plant Systems	1
		Animal Systems	2
		Microbial Genomics	3
Rural Community Vitality/Economic Development	3	Land-Use Policy	1
		Biobased Products	2
		Entrepreneurship and Leadership	3
Homeland Security	4	Rapid Detection of Threat Agents	1
		Risk Assessment	2
		Energy Security	3
		Facility and Personnel Security	4
Facilities	5

Note: The first two priorities are equal in rank.

• Environment: Provide a framework for understanding and addressing issues of water quality and quantity, invasive species and global climate change. Others areas of high priority include land use issues, development of bio-based products, and risk management and assessment as each of these pertain to the environment.
• Food, Nutrition and Health: Develop the knowledge base on the etiology of food safety. Develop an understanding of the role of diet and consumer behavior on human health including obesity. Enhance the ability to identify foods with physiological activity and apply new, innovative technology to improve food systems.
• Genomics: Develop understanding of the structure and function of genes, the products of genes (proteins), and the products of proteins (metabolites) in plants, animals, microbes, insects, and humans for value-added applications as well as management of pests and diseases.
• Rural Community Vitality/Economic Development: Provide agriculturally-based systems for development of entrepreneurial activity that is sustainable, rooted in locality, environmentally sound and based on participatory, inclusive community planning.
• Homeland Security: Develop the knowledge base for (1) rapid detection of threat agents and disaster preparedness and recovery efforts, (2) risk assessment, (3) long-term energy sources, especially bio-based, and (4) facility and personnel security.
• Facilities: Provide for facilities as stated in section 1485 of the 2002 Farm Bill- authorizes up to $10M per year awarded to each experiment station on a competitive basis with required matching funds (77 units (SAES and ARD) at $10M each amounts to $250M per year for three years).

ESCOP Assignments
BAA Policy Board of Directors (support for ESCOP representative)
Science and Technology Committee (Executive Vice-Chair)
Partnership Working Group
NIMSS Oversight Committee (Chair)
NRSP Review Committee
NIAS Board of Directors
NASULGC – DOE/EERE Collaboration Project 4 Committee (Co-Chair)
BAA Farm Bill Committee
National Multistate Coordinating Committee
eXtension Internal Partners Advisory Council
CSREES Administrator’s Customer Satisfaction Survey Implementation Team
ESCOP Officers (after September 25)
Chair – Ron Pardini, (UNV-Reno)
Chair-elect –
Executive Vice Chair – Mike Harrington (WAAESD)
Past Chair – Al Parks, (PVA&MU)
Section Representative to BAA Policy Board – Nancy Cox (UKY)
Future Meetings
ESCOP Executive Committee, November 13, Houston, TX (NASULGC Annual Conference)
ESCOP Executive Committee, February 27, Washington, D.C. (CARET/AHS Meeting and Science on Hill Exhibit)
In meeting discussion:

• Send Farm Bill and Create 21 member list to Directors
• Database
  • include profile of college
  • make individual state data
  • send email reminder
  • contact Ed Smith about modifying ASRED database to include SAAESD

Action Requested: For Information Only.
 

Agenda Item 7.
Spring 2007 Meeting

Presenter: Lisa Collins
Background:
You are cordially invited to the Joint Meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Stations Directors and the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors in Lexington, Kentucky April 2-4, 2007. For additional information, please seehttp://www.ca.uky.edu/JointEDAESD/index.html.
 
Action Requested: For Information Only.
 

Agenda Item 8.
Nominating Committee Report

Presenter: Nancy Cox
Background:
A nomination for the ’06/07 SAAESD Chair-elect will be presented from the Nominating Committee and additional nominations will be accepted from the floor. The Chair-elect will be selected by a simple majority of voting members present.
 
Action Requested: Closure of nominations and selection of SAAESD Chair-elect.
Action Taken: The nomination was accept by acclamation for Tom Klindt, TN as chair elect for 2006/07 and chair in 2007/08.
 

Agenda Item 9.
Resolutions Committee Report

Presenter: Rick Roeder
Background:
Resolutions in Appreciation will be presented to Dr. Jerry Cherry, Dr. Bob Westerman, Dr. Skip Jubb, Dr. Greg Weidemann and Dr. David Boethel, outgoing Chair.
 
Action Requested: Approval
Action Taken: Resolutions of appreciation were read for Drs. Jerry Cherry, Bob Westerman, Skip Jubb and Greg Weidemann, who have left the Association for other positions. A resolution of appreciation was also read for Dr. David Boethel for his role as SAAESD Chair. All resolutions were approved by acclamation.
 

Agenda Item 10.
Presentation of SAAESD “Gravel” to incoming Chair

Presenter: David Boethel
Background:
Outgoing chair, David Boethel, will present the Association’s official gavel, a pocketknife, to incoming chair, Susan Barefoot
 
Action Requested: None, for information only
 

Agenda Item 11
Closing Remarks and Announcements

Presenter: Susan Barefoot
Background: