Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

October 5, 2008

The meeting opened with a 6:00 p.m. reception at the Waterfront Building for members and guests, with delectable homemade food and an opportunity for scientists to informally network.

October 6 - 7, 2008

Dr. Qureshi, CSREES Liaison, welcomed the group.

Meeting participants introduced themselves.

Dr. Meryl Broussard, Deputy Administrator, Plant and Animal Systems, CSREES, delivered greetings from the agency.

Annual station reports were delivered by the members in attendance, and introductions to their research were given by the guests in attendance, on October 6 and 7.

In the afternoon of October 6, participants took a bus tour of the USDA-ARS Beltsville facilities, which ended by meeting at a restaurant where participants received written information about ARS programs and had a program of informative overviews of these programs by several administrators.

Business meeting

The Business meeting opened at 8:05 a.m. on October 7, 2008.

1. Dr. Peter Johnson reviewed the transition to the Agriculture and Food Institute (AFRI). Programs will be posted on the web in November, with the first deadlines in March 2009. Projects can be integrated or 100% research, teaching or extension. Grants are more flexible, with times up to 5 years (some, 10 years). The Indirect Cost Rate is raised to 22% maximum. A minimum of 30% of the money will go to Integrated proposals. The system is changing to Adobe-based, rather than PureEdge. Section 1433 (Animal Health Formula Funds) of $5 million was zeroed out by the President and the Senate kept it at zero. The fate is currently not known and there is a question as to whether these funds might instead go to rural veterinary student loan repayments.

2. Dr Brad Hillman (Administrative Advisor; Director for Research at Rutgers University) introduced his background as a plant virologist and expressed his sincere interest in working with this multi-state research project. He indicated that the new project (NE-1034) commenced as of October 1, 2008.

3. Taylor announced that he would not chair the re-write committees for this project in the future, and was thanked for his excellent efforts in doing so in the past.

4. Scott volunteered to compile (from the members contributions) the 5-year termination report, and to submit it.

5. Klasing moved and van Ginkel seconded that Lamont would move from secretary to chair position in 2009. Motion approved by voice vote.

6. Scott moved and Lamont seconded that Rodriguez-LeCompte serve as secretary in 2009. Motion approved by voice vote.

7. Discussion was held on potential locations for the future meetings.

2009: Arkansas (Erf) with Purdue and Wakenell as back-up location, avoiding the dates of the European Breeders Roundtable. (NOTE: Erf later confirmed the ability to host the meeting in 2009 with dates to be announced after the football schedule is published.) 2010: Delaware (Keeler) with Denmark and the Netherlands as backup locations. 2011: Cornell (Schat). 2012 ADOL (Heidari).

Meetings should be held after October 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

8. Taylor moved, and Purcells seconded, that the following scientists be invited to membership in the NE-1034 Technical Committee: Dawes, Dreschler and Irizarry of Western University, Ashwell of NCSU, and Dalloul of Virginia Tech. Motion approved by unanimous vote. Invitees were reminded of their duties as members: annual written reports each year, participation in annual meetings of the Technical Committee, and submission of the proper paperwork through their Experiment Station (or through the committees administrative advisor, if they are not at an AES).

9. The meeting hosts, Qureshi and Lillehoj, were recognized by the participants for their outstanding hospitality, delicious meals, and arrangement of educational tours.

Meeting adjourned at 9:14 a.m.