Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Summary of Annual Meeting Faculty and graduate students from eleven universities, a USDA representative and an industry executive participated in the 2009 WERA-72 annual meeting, held at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas, June 7-9, 2009. The program agenda and business meeting agenda are attached in appendixes A and B, respectively. The annual meeting featured an industry speaker, seven paper sessions and one panel discussion. Marc Nonenmacher, Western Regional Vice President for Cobank was the industry speaker. His presentation, titled The Financial Banking Crisis: A Perspective from Cobank, was a timely topic following the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, which dominated the news and public policy discussions for many months prior to our meeting. His presentation focused on discussing the Agribusiness implications of the financial crises. Two other paper presentations also addressed the financial crises. These include papers titled Credit Risk and Agricultural Financial Market Performance (Arizona State University) and Maintaining a Healthy Equity Structure: The Case of Producers Cooperative Association (Texas A&M University). Food safety was another central theme for the annual meeting. Papers were presented on topics that included media coverage and consumers confidence in the safety of the food system (Louisiana Sate University and University of Minnesota). Other food safety topics included papers on consumer reactions to food scares, as well as, a paper on certification standards and effectiveness of food recalls (Arizona State University). Papers addressing various other agribusiness topics were presented and discussed at the meeting (please see appendix A). Another notable development of this years annual meeting was associated with a book project initiative, presented by Wes Harrison the 2009 WERA-72 Chair. The goal of the project is to assemble an anthology of papers that provide a body of literature that better defines the field of agribusiness, and provides agribusiness faculty with a reference for graduate classes in agribusiness, as well as, guidance for administrators regarding agribusiness program development. After some discussion, the committee felt that the best approach (at least in the short term) would be to coordinate a special issue of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review (IFAMR) (rather than a book). This would allow for proper peer review of contributing papers, and facilitate global dissemination though IFAMRs international network. As a follow up note, Wes Harrison (2009 WERA-72 Chair) and Desmond Ng (2010 WERA-72 Chair) have met with the Executive Editor of IFAMR and are in the process of developing a proposal for the special edition. Minutes for the 2009 WERA-72 Annual Business Meeting Chair: Dr. Wes Harrison Vice Chair: Dr. Desmond Ng Secretary: Dr. Tim Woods Treasurer: Dr. Brent Gloy 1. Wes Harrison called the business meeting to order at 4.00pm on Monday, June 8.. Old Business Items 2. WERA-72 project renewal has been submitted through Glen Whipple, the Administrative Representative to the Western Region, for review in the July 2009 meeting. Renewal will be for the next five years. Publications and impact statements from the WERA 72 Las Vegas meetings will need to be submitted to Wes. Land Grant and Non-Land Grant investigators can get forms to officially join WERA-72 from Glen Whipple. 3. Aaron Johnson motioned, Des Ng seconded the motion to approve the minutes from the 2008 WERA-72 Business Meeting. 4. Brent Gloy provided and distributed the 2009 Treasurers Report. Brent noted that Cornell University provided $5,000 credit to help make arrangements with the hotel. 5. The graduate student travel scholarship awardees, Iksu Jun and Juan Monge, introduced themselves. 6. Wes discussed sending a communication to IAMA members requesting a donation for the Wortman and Schnieder scholarship accounts. New Business Items 7. The location for the 2010 meeting will be hosted in Santa Clara at Santa Clara University. Meeting dates were discussed for June 13, 14 and 15 by Greg Baker. 8. Meeting locations for the 2011 meeting was discussed. Meeting locations in Washington, DC and Las Vegas were considered. Kerry Litzenberg motioned and Aaron Johnson seconded to have the meeting tentatively in Las Vegas in 2011. The motion passed unanimously. Ideas for corporate sponsor/support/hostong was discussed. 9. Tim Woods discussed the prospect of having the S-1019 Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Systems do a joint program in Santa Clara in 2011. He will work with that committee to pursue joint program opportunities. 10. Aaron Johnson, nominating committee, noted that Brent Ross, Michigan State was willing to serve as incoming secretary for WERA-72.. Brent was voted in favor by acclamation. 11. Brent reminded the group to visit with colleagues at home and neighbor institutions about future participation. 12. Aaron Johnson motioned to adjourn. Brent seconded. The meeting adjourned

WERA-72 continues to link university faculty with government agency personnel and industry leaders. The program at the annual meeting once again included an invited speaker from industry and one presentation by an USDA staff member. The WERA72 leadership has maintained this practice for many years now, and it is committed to continuing to use the annual meeting to facilitate these linkages. WERA72 continues to facilitate the coordination and development of timely research, extension, and teaching projects among participating faculty, graduate students, government, and industry leaders, creating a pool of shared expertise in general area of agribusiness scholarship. Maintained and further developed our electronic communication methods, regularly using the organizations listserv to communicate timely announcements, including job postings, research grant opportunities, and calls for paper proposals with an agribusiness focus. Past presentations have also been posted on the organizations webpage, providing an institutional depository of past agribusiness scholarship.

2009 Publications Louisiana State University AgCenter Kinsey, Jean and R. Wes Harrison. Index of Consumer Confidence in the Safety of the Food System. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Forthcoming. 91(5) (December 2009). Harrison, R. Wes. The Food Versus Fuel Debate: Implications for Consumers. Journal of Agriculture and Applied Economics. In press. 41(2) (August 2009). University of Florida and Santa Clara University Collaboration Greg Baker, Santa Clara University, and Al Wysocki and Lisa House, University of Florida. 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. (PRJ, S) University of Illinois Novotorova, Nadezhda and Michael A. Mazzocco. Consumer Preferences and Trade-Offs for Locally Grown and Genetically Modified Apples: A Conjoint Analysis Approach. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. 11(4):31-53 (2008). Novotorova, Nadezhda and Michael A. Mazzocco. Impact of Product Attribute Wording on Consumer Acceptance of Biotechnology Applications in Produce. Journal of Food Distribution Research, Forthcoming, November, 2009. Novotorova, Nadia and Michael A. Mazzocco. Consumer Preferences and Trade-Offs for Locally Grown and Genetically Modified Apples: A Conjoint Analysis Approach. Presented at the Annual Meeting of WERA-72 Regional Research Project, Santa Clara, CA, June, 2008. Michael A. Mazzocco. The University of Illinois Agribusiness Executives in Residence Program: The Why and How. Presented at Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, December 5, 2008. Michael A. Mazzocco. The Illinois Food Technology Sector: An Overview. Presented at SPRING Singapore (Standards Productivity and Innovation Board, Ministry of Trade and Industry), Singapore, June 4, 2008. University of Nebraska Food versus Fuel: Adoption and Distribution of Distillers Grains from Ethanol Dr. Dennis M. Conley Symposium of the International Food & Agribusiness Management Association, 19th Annual Meeting, Budapest, Hungry Texas A&M University Siebert, John., Amy Hagerman and John Park. "Virtual Investment Concepts and the Ethanol Industry." International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. Volume 11, Issue 4, 2008. Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University Collaboration Siebert, John and Conrad Lyford. "U.S. Dairy Industry Supply Control: Managing the Cooperatives Working Together Program." Review of Agricultural Economics. (Accepted and forthcoming) 2008 and earlier publications are available on 2005 through 2008 annual reports