Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief Summary of Annual Meeting: Highlights of the meeting's program included the following: " A presentation by an invited industry speaker, Jim Lugg, Executive Vice President for Food Safety and Quality, Fresh Express, -Emerging Food Safety Challenges-; " Eighteen paper presentations by members, concerning a range of agribusiness research, teaching and extension scholarship (selected from a total of 30 paper proposals that were submitted in response to our call for papers in the Spring of 2008); " Four additional proposal were invited to present posters during the program; " Three panel discussions, two focusing on agribusiness research topics and one on agribusiness outreach/extension. The Business Meeting was held from 8am to 9am, Friday, June 20, 2008. The meeting was chaired by William Nganje, Arizona State University with R. Wes Harrison, Louisiana State University, serving as Vice Chair, and Desmond Ng as Secretary. Highlights from this meeting included the following: The 2008 WERA-72 annual business meeting was called to order at 8:00am on Friday, June 20th, 2008 Old Business Items 1. The first order of business was the approval of 2007 minutes following a motion by Greg Baker, Santa Clara University and Desmond Ng, Texas A&M University. 2. Registration fee to increase from $150 to $200 for next year's meeting was discussed. Members have agreed that such an increased will be made at the discretion of the executive officers. 3. Graduate students with accepted paper presentations were to be exempt from registration fees. 4. A proposal for a memorial fund for deceased members was submitted by Kerry Litzenberg, Student travel scholarships of amount $200 would be named after this memorial fund. The memorial fund recognizes past members who offered significant contributions to WERA-72. Past members identified were Vernon E. Schneider, Texas A&M University and Max Wortman, Iowa State University. The memorial fund proposal was discussed and amendments were suggested and adopted by Kerry Litzenberg. A motion by Kerry Litzenberg, Texas A&M University and seconded by Patrick O'Rourke, Illinois State University to approve the amended proposal was made. The motion was passed (see Appendices 1, 2 & 3). New Business Items 5. For new business items, the first agenda was the selection of the time and location of 2009 WERA conference. Discussion had followed on the alternative locations in which Santa Clara and Las Vegas were considered. In presenting the Treasury report, Brent Gloy, Cornell University, provided discussion on the estimated balance for the 2008 meetings at Santa Clara University with a projected ending balance of $7,202.19 or approximately a net gain of $63 / person. An estimated net balance for a Las Vegas meeting was projected at a net cost of $159.64 / person. Discussion followed in which some members, especially those from the Eastern Regions, had expressed concern over the higher travel costs to Santa Clara. Patrick O'Rourk, Illinois State University, had made the motion to move the 2009 meeting to Las Vegas for June 7-9, while the 2010 meeting will be held in Santa Clara. The date for the 2010 meeting will determined at a later date. Motion was seconded by Greg Baker, Santa Clara University. Motion was approved. 6. The nomination committee for secretary - consisting of Drs. Kerry Litzenberg, Texas A&M University, Dennis Conley, University of Nebraska and Ruby Ward, Utah State University, nominated Tim Woods, University of Kentucky, for secretary. No additional nominations were presented from the floor and the nominations were closed. Nomination of Tim Woods as Secretary was followed by a motion by Brent Gloy, Cornell University, and Aaraon Johnson, University of Idaho. A vote was taken and Tim Woods was elected as the 2008/2009 WERA-72 Secretary 7. Brent Gloy, Cornell University, presented the Treasurer's report (see attachments). Overall report indicates a good financial standing with a positive estimated ending balance of $7,202.19. 8. For the development of the annual report, members' annual publication record was requested by Chair, William Nganje, Arizona State University. Reminders of such a request were to follow. 9. A plan to renew the WERA-72 proposal is due in 2009. Members are called upon to submit emerging research, teaching or extension related issues for the development of this plan. Details of this plan will be discussed and developed by the executive team. 10. Presented paper submissions had been requested to be submitted to Agecon search. 11. Other Matters: Denise Conley, University of Nebraska, had suggested that other regional meetings may be considered to be held in conjunction with WERA-72 12. For the WERA-72 2008 meetings, there were 37 attendees. Approximately, there were 27 faculty, 7 graduate students and 3 from government. Their names and affiliations are contained in the attachment titled WERA-72 2008 Final totals. Appendix 1 Vernon E. Schneider - WERA-72 Graduate Student Travel Grant Vernon E. Schneider, a 1963 Ph.D graduate form Oregon State University, was an early pioneer in agribusiness teaching and research. He is remembered as an outstanding teacher, an innovator in agribusiness curriculum development, and a visionary leader in international agribusiness relations. Schneider joined the Agricultural Economics Department at Texas A&M in 1973 where he was a faculty member and distinguished professor until his death in 1994. While at Texas A&M, Schneider taught several graduate and undergraduate course emphasizing agribusiness management and was a member of over 175 Ph.D, M.S. and Master of Agriculture graduate committees. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, Schneider served as staff economist to the National Commission on Food Marketing, Director of the Agricultural Research Center at Stanford Research Institute, and as president of the American Institute of Cooperation. Dr. Schneider was a teacher and a leader in the development of agribusiness management educational programs. As a teacher, his primary focus was finding ways to link his students to agribusiness industries. He organized more than 19 field study tours to California, Washington, D.C., New York City and Mexico. He established internships and cooperative education programs with agribusinesses across the country and worked closely with agribusiness employers to place students. In 1987 and 1989, Schneider was the key organizer of a White House conference on agribusiness education to bring together educators, government officials and industry representatives to focus on agribusiness educational needs and program development. In addition to helping form the WERA-72 group (earlier called WRCC-72 as a Western Coordinating Committee), he also envisioned an international association to further the exchange of ideas among agribusiness professionals and educators around the world. Through his leadership, the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) was chartered and has grown to more than 1200 members from nearly 50 countries. Vern Schneider was highly committed to facilitating development of young agribusiness faculty and would be proud to have a WERA-72 travel grant for graduate students named in his honor. Appendix 2 Max S. Wortman, Jr. - WERA-72 Graduate Student Travel Grant Max S. Wortman, Jr. was early adopter of case study methods in business education and a strong advocate of rural entrepreneurship as a path to sustainable economic development. He came to the study of agribusiness management by an unusual route. He received his BS in Civil Engineering in 1956 from Iowa State University and, in 1962, he received his Ph.D. in Business Administration (with specializations in industrial relations, management, labor economics, and statistics) from the University of Minnesota. He went on to teach management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the University of Massachusetts, the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Iowa. From 1981 to 1988, Professor Wortman was the William B. Stokely chair in management at the University of Tennessee. In 1988 he became a Distinguished Professor of Management at Iowa State University, and in 2002 he was elected president of the Iowa State Faculty Senate. He passed away suddenly in 2005. Professor Wortman spent nearly 50 years amassing an impressive record of scholarship and community service. He published over 150 article and proceedings, nine books, and consulted or presented in more than 10 countries. He was the founding editor of the Academy of Management Review and was elected a fellow of the Academy of Management, the North American Case Research Association, the Institute for Certified Professional Managers, and the Decision Sciences Institute. In 2004, Professor Wortman received the first Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship from the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), the premier organization for entrepreneurship education in the US. As a founding member of WERA-72, Professor Wortman was equally well known for his challenging questions and his unfaltering support of young researchers. He befriended, encouraged, supported, and frightened thousands of colleagues and students during his half-century in business education. A WERA-72 Graduate Student Travel Grant named in his honor is a fitting tribute to his contributions to our committee. Appendix 3 Proposal for Memorial of Deceased Contributors to WERA-72 submitted by Drs. Kerry Litzenberg and Andrew Starbird at 2008 Meetings at Santa Clara University on June 20th, 2008 WERA-72 Honoring our Past (HOP) Student Travel Scholarship Memorial Fund Several former members of WERA-72 have made significant contributions to the creation and development of the professional activities of WERA-72. The purpose of this resolution is to provide a mechanism to honor these past members. This resolution establishes the process to create and maintain this honoring of our past members. Outlined bellow is the process to create these honors. Grants in the name of the HOP in the amount of $200 will be given to graduate students presenting papers at the annual WERA-72 meetings. Originations of honoring our Past Memorials Any past members of WERA-72 who is deceased may be honored by this designation by the following: 1) A written nomination of the person to include a paragraph about the persons professional career and contributions to WERA-72. 2) An original contribution of $250. 3) Annual contributions of at least $200. If the balance in any honorarium account drops below $250, no grant would be made for that year. 4) Selection of the grant to be decided by the executive committee. 5) When travel grants are awarded to graduate students from an HOP subaccount (i.e. in someone's name) the graduate student should be informed of their "namesake" when the travel grant is made and the paragraph about the HOP be sent to the graduate student.

Accomplishments: Members of WERA-72 noted that the 2008 meetings marked the 21th anniversary of the organizational meeting that led to the creation of this coordinating committee, which was initially known as the WRCC-72. Agribusiness has emerged as a dominant sub-discipline in agricultural economics. Major accomplishments have been made to address emerging agribusiness issues; food safety/defense, business and financial risks, international supply chain issues, consumer demand for healthy foods, etc. The Association continues to work on plans to, " Improve the collaboration with the International Food and Agribusiness Association (IAMA) and its journal, International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. " Create an Agribusiness Economics and Management (AEM) Section within the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). " Expand Masters of Agribusiness programs and/or Ph.D. fields in agribusiness, with about twenty Departments of Agricultural Economics throughout the U.S., currently. " Facilitate student participation and development of agribusiness. Specific accomplishments for the reporting period include the successful completion of our coordinating meeting, as noted above. With 30 proposals submitted, and with 37 attending the conference (with an additional 40 others on the organization's listserv), the WERA-72 continues to serve the vital function of linking agribusiness scholars. This is particularly important as many committee participants still have little support within their academic home departments, often being the only agribusiness scholar at their schools, despite the emerging importance of agribusiness as a sub-discipline within agricultural economics. It should be noted that IAMA with its international focus (and annual meetings typically outside the U.S.), often is not an accessible outlet or resource for WERA-72 members, who rely on the WERA-72 annual meeting to network with other agribusiness scholars and to learn about cutting edge research, teaching and outreach in agribusiness. In addition to the annual meeting, members presented agribusiness-focused research findings at the annual meetings of the Western Agricultural Economics Association, the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and the Food Distribution and Research Society. Many members also serve as thesis and dissertation committee chairs and members for graduate students conducting agribusiness-focused research.

" Baker, G., Wysocki, A. F., House, L. O. Fostering Collaboration between Industry and Universities: The View from the Corner Office. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 11(3), 57-80. " Baker, G., Hansen, K. O. Greene Gardens. To appear in International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. " Ng, D. 2008. "Understanding the Entrepreneurship of Social Networks and Market Dynamics". Journal of Chain and Network Science (Forthcoming). " Ng, D, Westgren, R., Sonka, S. 2008. "Competitive Blind Spots in an Institutional Field". Strategic Management Journal (Forthcoming) " Ng, D. 2008. "Structural Change in Food Supply Chains", International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, Vol. 11, Issue 2. pp 17-48. " Nganje, William, Cheryl Wacheinhem and William Lesch. "Multinomial Logit Models Evaluating Perceived Risks and Consumption of GM Foods." Paper Accepted for Publication, Food Distribution Research, November, 2008. " Onyango, Benjamin, Dragan Miljkovic, William Hallman, William Nganje, Sarah Coundry, and Cara Cuite: "Food Recalls and Food Safety Perceptions: The September 2006 Spinach Recall Case," Journal of Agribusiness, Accepted for Publication on October 3, 2008, In Press. " Miljkovic, Dragan, William Nganje, and Benjamin Onyango. "Offsetting Behavior and the Benefits of Food Safety Regulation" Paper Accepted for Publication, Journal of Food Safety, December 9th, 2007, In Press. " Rene hughner, Jill K. Maher, Nancy Childs and William Nganje. "Fish: Friend or Foe? Food policy and subpopulation warnings for consumers." Food policy, 2008. Policy (2008), doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2008.09.002 " William Nganje, Vicki Bier, Hoa Han, and Lorna Zack. "Models of Interdependent Security along the Milk Supply Chain." Proceeding Issue, American Journal of Agricultural Economic, 90(Number 5, 2008):1265-1271. " Miljkovic, Dragan, William Nganje, and Elvis Ndembe. "Offsetting Behavior: Consumers Response to Food Safety Policies." Choices, 3rd Quarter 2008 23(3):1-7. " William E. Nganje, Simeon Kaitibie, Emmanuel Acquah, Cheryl Wachenheim and Gretchen Johnson. "Price Premium for Bread Marketed as Low-Carbohydrates Bread. Food Distribution Research." July, 2008, Vol. XXXIX (2):66-76. " Miljkovic, Dragan and William Nganje "Economic factors Affecting the Increase in Obesity in the United States: A Myopic Addiction Model." Agricultural Economics, 38 (2008):375-384. " Nganje, William, Robert Hearne, Cole Gustafson and Michael Orth. "Farmers' Preferences for Alternative Crop and Health Insurance Subsidies." Review of Agricultural Economics. Vol. 30, No. 2 (Summer):333-351, 2008. " Miljkovic, Dragan, William Nganje, and Helene de Chastenet "Economic factors Affecting the Increase in Obesity in the United States: A Differential Response to Price" Food Policy, Vol. 33/1 pp 48-60, 2008. " Kelley, K.M. 2008. Implementing a customer loyalty program. 2008 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention, pgs. 54-55. " Kelley, K.M. 2008. Creating an e-mail marketing program to build your business. The Pennsylvania State University Farm Management Web site < http://farmmanagement.aers.psu.edu/ValueAddedMrkt.htm> " Kelley, K.M. 2008. Creating and hosting events at your agribusiness: Providing entertainment, helping families build memories, and increasing sales. The Pennsylvania State University Farm Management Web site < http://farmmanagement.aers.psu.edu/ValueAddedMrkt.htm> " Kelley, K.M. 2008. Learning about your customer, developing consumer segments, choosing goods and services that appeal. The Pennsylvania State University Farm Management Web site < http://farmmanagement.aers.psu.edu/ValueAddedMrkt.htm> " Harbor, A.L., M.A. Martin, and J.T. Akridge. "Assessing Input brand Loyalty among U.S. Agricultural Producers". International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. Vol. 11, Issue 1, 2008, pp. 17-34. " Gray, A, M. Roucan-Kane, and J.T. Akridge. "The Role of Price in Producers Input Purchase Decisions". Proceedings, 2008 Symposium of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Monterrey, California, June 14-17, 2008. http://dev.ifama.org/library.asp?collection=2008_monterey&volume=symposium_presentation_files/1078_paper.pdf. " Ubilava, D. and J.T. Akridge. "Management of Agribusiness Services: Precision Service Offerings and Profitability of Retail Crop Input Dealers." Proceedings (Selected Poster), 2008 Symposium of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Monterrey, California, June 14-17, 2008. http://dev.ifama.org/library.asp?collection=2008_monterey&volume=symposium_presentation_files/1085_poster.pdf " Shadbolt, N., G. Baker, and J.T. Akridge. "Internationalisation and the Challenges it Creates to Agribusiness Executive Education." Proceedings (Selected Poster), 2008 Symposium of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Monterrey, California, June 14-17, 2008. http://dev.ifama.org/library.asp?collection=2008_monterey&volume=symposium_presentation_files/1113_poster.pdf " Whipker, L.D. and J.T. Akridge. "2008 Precision Agricultural Services Dealership Survey Results." Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, Working Paper No. 08-XX, September 2008. XX pp. " Foltz, J. and J.T. Akridge. "Do You Make the Grade? A Report Card for Your Feed and Grain Business - Part II." Feed & Grain. XX/XX 2008, pp. XX-XX. " Akridge, J.T. and M. Marshall. "Hanging On to Talent." CropLife, March 2008, pp. 22-23. " Whipker, L.D. and J.T. Akridge. "Responding to a Changing Market." CropLife, June 2008, pp. 12-17. " Whipker, L.D. and J.T. Akridge. "Where is Site-Specific Agriculture Headed?" CropLife, June 2008, pp. 18-23. " Jones, B., M. Roucan, and J.T. Akridge. "West Coast Seeds: A Vegetable Seed Retailer." Center for Food and Agricultural Business Case Study. March 2007, 7 pages. " Jones, B., M. Roucan, and J.T. Akridge. "Oliver Seed Company: A Midwest Hybrid Corn Company." Center for Food and Agricultural Business Case Study. March 2007, 7 pages. " Ndembe, Elvis, William Nganje, and Dragan Miljkovic: "Offsetting Behavior and the Benefits of Food Safety Policies in Vegetable Preparation and Consumption," Agribusiness and Applied Economics Report No. 620, North Dakota State University, April 2008.