Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

This years meeting was called to order at 8:08 AM by Chairman Bob Harmon (KY) and an attendance sheet and a record of the 2006 SAC-2 meeting were distributed. In the absence of Mike Lacy (GA), Steve Nickerson (GA) was appointed to serve as Recording Secretary. The minutes were corrected to show that Keith Lusby (AR) was indeed in attendance at the 2006 meeting and the minutes were amended to reflect this oversight. Terry Kiser (MS) moved to accept the 2006 minutes as amended, which was seconded by Alan Mathew (TN), and the motion was passed. Chairman Harmon next asked that attendees go around the table and introduce themselves. Comments from Administrative Advisor, David Morrison (LA): " David emphasized that the SAC-2 group has functioned well this past year, and that we need to select new monitors for several projects. " Other recommendations and comments included: We as administrators need to spend time lobbying for/against certain federal earmarks. For example, Special Grants may not be funded at all or at a lower level next year. " We were encouraged to have our university leaders communicate with legislators and plead our case regarding the possible lack of funding. There is ~$400M in funding nationally that could be reduced or lost altogether. " Kenny Webb (VA) addressed the Special Funds issue: This may be an opportune time to address this predicament as we fight such lack of funding ever year. As department heads, we should communicate with our administrators to position us to continue to have this form of funding available. As an example, Bob Harmon stated that 50% of formula funds would have been placed in the competitive category, but this change was strongly opposed by university administrators, and so was not realized. " David Morrison suggested that CREATE 21 could be beneficial, as it would maintain formula funds plus have capacity to grow these funds at the rate of inflation. One possible outcome of CREATE 21 would be to create a NIFA (National Institute of Food Agriculture). CREATE 21 is tied to the next Farm Bill. Experiment Station Directors feel that it would be a positive direction and although there seems to be less buy-in from the Extension Directors, the majority are in support. " Bob Harmon noted that the face of the CREATE 21 proposal has changed, and that we should study the website in order to be aware of what is going on with this proposal as our Associate Deans of Research will vote on this. The question of whether there was any stakeholder input for the proposal was brought up. " David Morrisons concern was that there was too much emphasis on competitive grants in the initial version, but the proposal is now more palatable to Experiment Station Directors; thus, their concerns were heard and addressed. In addition, the latest version provided protection for formula funds. " Bob Harmon asked what metrics are to be used to allocate funding; for example, is it based on the number of farms in each state? Comments from CSREES Representative, Peter Burfening: " Peter could not make it due to lack of travel funds, as his unit experienced a 25% reduction in travel allowance. Project Reports: Present and (former project number)  David provided a project by project summary of the status of each project obtained from the southern Executive Directors office at NCSU. " S-1000 (S-275): Bob Harmon, Monitor  Is now SDC (Southern Development Committee) 326, and Bob will continue to serve as Monitor. This group met in Feb 06 to revise the project. It has been very productive, publishing 53 journal articles, 61 Abstracts, and 15 book chapters, proceedings, and other publications. Recommended continued support. Passed unanimously. " S-1008 (S-284): Geoff Dahl (FL), New Monitor was appointed to replace Bruce Jenny (LA) who is no longer a member of SAC-2. Paul Humes (LA) agreed to send report to Steve Nickerson. " S-1012 (S-288): Alan Mathew, Monitor  Involves swine and reproductive efficiency, with focus on the sow. Vertical production in conjunction with the swine nutrition group; due for a rewrite in 08. Met in early Jan 07 in Orlando. They do publish as a multi-state group. Recommended continued support. Passed unanimously. " S-1013 (S-277): Terry Kiser, Monitor  Terminates in 08. This group met in Lexington, KY Jun 7-8, 2006 as an assembly of quantitative geneticists from 9 states that are following common protocols. Their work relates to determining opportunities for genetic selection to improve temperament and parasite resistance in traditional and non-Bos indicus tropically-adapted breeds. They are collecting DNA samples for QTL x environmental interactions. Temperament is a large issue. David Morrisons concern was whether they are being consistent enough across states to analyze data and publish results. The group has been very productive in publishing. Johnny Rossi (GA) was elected as Secretary. Sid DeRouen (LA) is chair-elect. Recommend continued support. Passed unanimously. " S-1020 (S-285): Mike Lacy, Monitor  Not present; no report; need to check on project. " S-1023 (S-299): David Morrison, Monitor  No written report. This project is in its second 5-yr period and evaluates mechanisms to enhance productivity of dairy cattle under heat-stress conditions. Terminates in 2010. David is concerned about numerous participants but only a few attend meetings, which are associated with the ASAS Southern Section meeting. A core group of scientists is active, but others do not take part. Publication record is very good. It is difficult to be a fully active multi-state group with so much lack of participation? The group previously received an IFAFS grant as a multi-state effort. Currently, some objectives are not being addressed in project. David has relayed to the S-1023 group that he is concerned. Travel funds may be an issue. On each objective, there should be at least 2 people working on a study, and David does not believe this is happening. The W-1173 group has asked the S-1023 group to meet with them at Virgin Islands in August as W-1173 also is involved in domestic animal stress and has a sub-group working on dairy heat-stress. S-1023 may need to merge with W-1173 in the future. A regional project is intended to address issues too great for a single institution to handle and to collaborate by sharing common protocols, publications, etc. Continued support passed unanimously but David will communicate his concerns to group. " As an aside, at this point in the meeting, we discussed bringing dairy back to the ASAS Southern Section Meetings as it is a great training ground for graduate students and thus future investigators in the dairy area. With decreases in investigators at universities and operating budgets, this may not happen. For example, investigators in GA, FL, AL, LA, and MS should form a group to emphasize dairy, and if we want folks to participate, we ourselves should support this effort. However, with the culture of dairy decreasing in the South, this assembly of investigators may not happen. " S-1025 (S-291): Alan Mathew, Monitor  No report. (Mike Lacy as former Monitor may have a copy of this report). " S-1027 (S-292): Don Conner (AL), Monitor  This project was recently approved in Oct of 06, and met in Verona, Italy. Good interaction and collaboration with projects and grant writing. Extension and outreach are strong. All 3 objectives are being met. Approximately 60% of group effort is in the food safety arena as well as most of the collaboration. Leadership is young and enthusiastic. Recommended continued support. Approved unanimously. " SDC320 (New project): Walter Bottje (AR), Monitor  A couple of projects are well underway in the review process following peer review in the SDC. An SDC is only approved for 2 yr according to David Morrison. A common goal of all projects is to have all multi-state projects initiate on October 1 of a given year. SDC 320 will be a new project for next year. No action taken. David deduced that this proposal has been blessed and it has evidently moved forward. Walter will continue as Monitor. David noted that during peer review, there is an opportunity for Monitors to be peer reviewers; David is looking for volunteers as we as monitors are probably in a good position to handle these proposals. " At 9:20 AM, Renee Lloyd and Ashby Green of NCBA met with us to welcome the group to this years meeting. David and Bob relayed that we appreciated their help in providing facilities at NCBA for our SAC-2 Meeting. They offered to be spokespersons for us in DC in our continued quest for funding, and offered NCBAs help in strengthening the beef industry. . It was mentioned that eXtension needs to have real connections with commodity groups. We discussed Community of Practice (COP) for beef and for dairy. Dairy COP is under development (led by KY) and the status of beef COP is unknown. " SDC321 (W-195): Sam Pardue (NC), Monitor  This poultry project originated from the Western Region, but is very applicable to the South and our large poultry industry. The group met on 11/23/06 in Arkansas to accept SDC321 as regional project. Location and date for next meeting is in Australia. Air quality and ammonia control as agricultural emissions are focus areas. Recommended continued support. Approved unanimously. " SDC322 (New project); formerly S-1005 and S-1006, which were monitored by Mike Lacy and Don Wagner (OK). Keith Lusby will be the New Monitor for SDC322, which focuses on flies and their impact on food safety, and combines the two previous projects (S-1005, S-1006) into this one. Progress is questionable at this time, as it was just formed in the last year and is still in the peer review process, but this group has been productive in the past. " SDC326: No report; in revision since 11/30/06. " SCC72: Paul Humes, Monitor  No written report, but Paul indicated that this group meets each year in conjunction with Southern Section ASAS and will therefore meet in Mobile on February 4. This is a beef reproduction information exchange group and this year, Les Anderson of KY is scheduled to speak and lead the discussion. " SERA15: Steve Nickerson, Monitor  This group is made up of extension specialists and researchers from 13 Southern states with a keen interest in sustaining the Southern dairy industry. Investigators assemble at the Southern Dairy Conference in Atlanta, GA, and have met continuously for the past 33 yr. Approximately 150 participants join in the program, which covers areas in production, milk marketing/manufacturing, academia, and government. They are particularly interested in getting the Southeast out of being a milk deficit area. Recommend continued support. Passed unanimously. " s_temp1422; s_temp1582: see Business Items below. Business Items: Select Monitors- " SDC322: Keith Lusby selected as Monitor. " SDC 326: Bob Harmon selected as Monitor. " s_temp1422: Wayne Green (AL) selected as Monitor. " s_temp1582: Ralph Nobel (NC) selected as Monitor. " S-1008: New Monitor is Geoff Dahl to replace Bruce Jenny (LA). Project to terminate in the fall of 08, and will become a SDC (Southern Development Committee) when it is rewritten. Other items- " David mentioned that the aquaculture advisory group was disbanded several years ago and was never integrated into SAC-2 because there were no developed multistate projects on aquaculture. Currently, a new project proposal (S_temp1542) has been prepared related to channel-blue catfish hybrid embryo production and performance and SAC-2 has been asked to review and act on the proposal. David asked if the group was comfortable reviewing the proposal and it was suggested that he contact several aquaculture unit heads in the region to see if they could review the proposal. Carol Engle (AR), Bruce Leopold (MS), and David Rouse (Auburn) were suggested and will be contacted. " The group agreed that Bob Harmon, as Chair, would serve in this capacity again in 2008; thus, each Chair will serve a 2-yr term. " Steve Nickerson served as Acting Secretary for 2007 and was nominated Secretary for 2008. However, if Mike Lacy is able, he will serve as Secretary for 2008 and then Chair for 2009, replacing Harmon. " The group will meet in Reno in 2008 in conjunction with the NCBA; an email will be forthcoming with this announcement. " Bob Harmon moved that the group adjourn followed by a second by Terry Kiser. " The group adjourned at 10:31 AM.

SAC-2 members reviewed all multistate project activities pertaining to animal, dairy, and poultry sciences. Recommendations were made that can be useful to SAAESD members regarding the effectivness of multistate collaborations and the resulting outcomes and impacts.