Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Summary of minutes NCDC 214 Committee  Management of Corn Diseases Annual Meeting, December 6, 2006 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago, IL West Tower - Crystal Ballroom A The meeting was called to order at 9 AM. From 9 AM until 2 PM the meeting agenda consisted of presentations from public and private sector researchers on projects related to corn diseases and their management. 1 Reducing the risk of mycotoxins through corn genetics Dr. Keith Campbell, Corn States Hybrids 2 Analysis of quantitative resistance to foliar pathogens of maize Dr. Peter Balint-Kurti, USDA-ARS, North Carolina State University 3 Pathogen-vector systems affecting the production of seed in Puerto Ricos winter nurseries Dr. Scott Heuchelin, Pioneer Hi-Bred Int., Inc. 4 Corn nematode populations in Nebraska Dr. Tamra Jackson, Univ. of Nebraska 5 Real-time PCR diagnostic assay development for multiple maize pathogens Dr. Charlie Block, USDA-ARS NC Plant Introduction Station 6 Corn disease issues in Ontario Dr. Albert Tenuta, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, & rural Affairs From 2 PM until 3:30 the group discussed plans for Development Committee activities over the next two years. 1. Membership  only a few land-grant university representatives attended the Chicago meeting. NCDC214 was established only a matter of days before the meeting, so there may have been limited opportunity for potential state representatives to plan for attendance. Plant pathology departments have been notified of the establishment of the committee and department heads were solicited for the names of state representatives. As of 8 Mar 2007, only 4 formal state representatives are entered in the National Information Management and Support System (NIMSS) system. A new effort will be needed to record participant names in the system. 2. Committee justification  the group discussed the trends in corn production, corn disease research, and research funding in relation to potential goals of the committee. It was recognized that corn production trends are likely to result in higher levels of disease loss during the next 5-10 years, requiring intensified research efforts. This situation is in conflict with trends toward reduction in personnel assigned to corn disease research within ARS and land-grant universities, and the relative lack of funding availability for corn pathology research compared to other agronomic crops. The group proposed to develop a white paper document describing current and near-term corn pathology needs, which may serve as a partial basis for a NCC or NCERA proposal/justification. This effort will be led by Carl Bradley (Univ. of IL), Tamra Jackson (Univ. of NE) and Gary Munkvold (IA State Univ.). 3. Committee governance  the consensus of the group was to elect a chair and co-chair to serve through Dec 2007. Gary Munkvold (IA State Univ.) was nominated and elected as chair; Tamra Jackson (Univ. of NE) was nominated and elected as co-chair. Any further committee policies on governance will be included in proposal documents to be submitted at a later date. 4. Development committee objectives  several scenarios were discussed in relation to formalizing the status of the committee after the NCDC term expires. The group pointed out that proposing a new NCC committee involves both advantages (potentially stronger land-grant university participation) and disadvantages (potentially weaker industry participation; documentation requirements; and a perceived lack of support at the administrative level for a corn disease research committee). Another possibility discussed was to form a subcommittee under the auspices of the ASTA. This scenario would likely lead to participation and meeting format similar to the 2006 meeting. A third scenario involves organizing the group informally along the lines of the Southern Soybean Disease Workers committee (http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/SSDW/ ), which recently held its 34th annual meeting. All three scenarios were discussed and remain as viable options. Subsequent discussions with ASTA committee members suggest that a subcommittee under the ASTA Phytosanitary Committee would likely be the most feasible approach under ASTA. 5. Future meetings  the group agreed to meet on 5 Dec 2007 in the same location. It was also proposed to arrange a meeting during early summer 2007 at a university location (e.g., Ames) in order to plan for committee proposal development. No final plan was made for this meeting. 6. Attendees  a list of attendees of the 2006 meeting is attached. The list may not be complete.