agInnovation South Fall Meeting
September 26, 2011
Estes Park, CO
Participants
George Askew, SC
Bill Brown, TN
John Hayes, FL
Maru Duryea, FL
Jonathan Edelson, OK
Bob Godfrey, VI
George Hopper, MS
Jody Jellison, VA
John Liu, AL
Nathan McKinney, AR
David Monks, NC
Reuben Moore, MS
Elvin Roman-Paoli, PR
Saied Mostaghimi, VA
Craig Nessler, TX
Steve Oliver, KY
John Russin, LA
Bob Shulstad, GA
Clarence Watson, OK
Executive Director’s Office:
Eric Young, agInnovation South
Donna Pearce, agInnovation South
Other guests:
Don Jones, Cotton Inc.
Ian Maw, APLU
Ed Smith, TX
Action Items:
| Agenda # | Actions Taken |
| Agenda – Approved (Watson/Askew) Spring Meeting Minutes – Approved (Brown/Mostaghimi) Interim Actions – Approved (Monks/Brown) |
|
| S1 | SERA Renewal Requests
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| S4 | Service Level Agreement with Texas AgriLife IT for Regional Database
|
| S11 | Nominating Committee Report · The nomination was accepted for Saied Mostaghimi, VA was elected as chair-elect for 2011/12 and chair in 2012/13. Approved by acclamation |
| S12 | Resolutions Committee Report
|
Agenda
| Time | Agenda # | Agenda Item – Presenter |
| 3:00 | Welcome and Introductions – Bob Shulstad
Agenda – Approved (Watson/Askew) |
|
| 3:05 | 1 | SERA Review Committee Report, Recommendations, and Approval – Reuben Moore Action taken: All recommendations from the SERA Review Committee were approved |
| 3:10 | 2 | NRSP Review Committee Recommendations and Ballot Preview – Clarence Watson |
| 3:20 | 3 | Cotton Database Funding Request and Cotton Inc Update – Don Jones Don Jones, Director of Agricultural and Environmental Research for Cotton Inc., will discuss a funding request to support the new genomics, genetics, and breeding database currently being developed for the cotton community at Washington State University. This comprehensive database will benefit all cotton researchers and growers and is being funded jointly by USDA-ARS and Cotton, Inc. Details of the new Cotton Database and Funding Request can be seen in the attached PDF. Don will also give an update on Cotton, Inc’s research programs and priorities. agInnovation South Estes Park In meeting discussion:
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| 3:50 | 4 | Service Level Agreement with Texas AgriLife IT for Regional Database – Eric Young Background: A few years ago a financial and personnel database was established by agInnovation South at TAMU to facilitate sharing of data between southern AES’s. However, very little data was actually entered and it was abandoned due to lack of use. At the agInnovation South spring meeting in Greenville, SC, it was decided that the database would be reinitiated with a reduced number of high priority parameters and hopefully a simpler user interface. The attached spreadsheet of Database Parameters shows a list of the new parameters to be entered annually by each station. Texas AgriLife IT has developed the new database and has it almost ready for our use, however due to some revised operating procedures within their department, they are now requesting that we sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and pay for development and maintenance of the database on a cost recovery basis. Additional information and the SLA are attached. The cost to agInnovation South will be $4,500 per year for the first two years to cover development and initial startup, and $1,000 per year after that for routine maintenance. Some Representative Screen Shots from the database using dummy data are shown in the attached PDF. The directors need to decide on approval of an additional assessment for the cost of this database and how that assessment will be divided among the AES’s (prorated or evenly distributed). Also, in order to prompt data entry each year and for communication relative to database details or technical aspects, it would be helpful to have the name and email of the person primarily responsible for entering this data as a contact for the agInnovation South office. Action taken: Approved |
| 4:00 | 5 | One-line Budget Proposal – All |
| 4:30 | 6 | Shared Resources Discussion – All At our Spring meeting in Greenville the directors decided to gather information from each AES on their most pressing research expertise and major facility needs to facilitate a more in-depth discussion on inter-institutional collaboration and sharing resources across state lines. The attached Expertise and Facilty Needs Combined spreadsheet is a compilation of the information submitted in the following three areas: Expertise Needs – discipline, specialty area, and commodity focus or research subject (Ex. plant pathology; bacterial diseases & host/pathogen interaction; vegetable crops) Major Facility Needs – type, brief description of use, and time frame (Ex. fungal pathogen containment greenhouse; USDA-APHIS-PPQ certified with supplemental lighting for germplasm disease screening; continuous access May thru September) Major Facilities Available – type, brief description, and time frame (Ex. feed mill; equipment includes: hammer, roller, & pellet mills, counter flow cooler, pellet screener, bagger, etc; use scheduled quarterly) Also of potential use in this discussion is the updated Expertise Spreadsheet that is available on the agInnovation South web site at This spreadsheet is based on CRIS data for individual faculty’s Field of Science and Subject of Investigation listed for agInnovation South institutions’ Hatch/state projects. This provides an idea of what expertise/discipline/research focus is currently available at each AES and the faculty’s name working in that area. Our discussion will focus on how to best facilitate initiating discussions among AES’s on specific collaborations that involved shared faculty and/or facilities. |
| 5:00 | 7 | 2011 Fall MRC Report – David Morrison |
| 5:05 | 8 | Integrated Grant Teams Status – Eric Young |
| 5:10 | 9 | Possible Southern Region Impact Study – Eric Young A study of agricultural research’s and extension’s impact was recently completed by Battelle on behalf of the land-grant universities in the North Central Region entitled “Power and Promise: Agbioscience in the North Central United States.” A Summary and News Release of that study is attached and the full report (and related materials) can be seen at http://nccea.org/documents/powerandpromiseweb.pdf A few southern directors suggested to Ron Brown and I that our region consider doing a similar study. The extension directors discussed this at the meeting in August and would like to explore this possibility if the AES directors agreed. If it’s decided to move forward, a conference call will be set up with the North Central ED’s and a few of their directors who were involved with leading the study to learn more about their process. In meeting discussion:
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| 5:15 | 10 | Spring 2012 agInnovation South Meeting – David Monks In meeting discussion:
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| 5:20 | 11 | Nominating Committee Report – Craig Nessler Action taken: The nomination was accepted for Saied Mostaghimi, VA was elected as chair-elect for 2011/12 and chair in 2012/13. Approved by acclamation |
| 5:22 | 12 | Resolutions Committee Report – Rick Roeder Action Taken: A resolution of appreciation was read for Dr. Bob Shulstad for his role as agInnovation South Chair. Resolutions of appreciation were read for Dr.’s Jim Rackocy (VI), Mark McLellan (FL), and Mark Cochran (AR) who have left the association. Resolutions were approved by acclamation. |
| 5:25 | 13 | Presentation of agInnovation South “Gavel” to incoming Chair – Bob Shulstad
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| 5:30 | Closing Remarks and Announcements – Craig Nessler | |
| 5:30 | Adjourn at 5:30 P.M. |