Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

1. Northeast Pasture Consortium members, Dr. Rachel Gilker of the Executive Committee, Martha Holdridge of West Wind Farm, and James Cropper, Executive Director, went to Capitol Hill and USDA headquarters October 5 and 6, 2009 to meet with congressional aides, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition staffers, and USDA officials to build their awareness on the merits of pasture-based livestock agriculture to achieve sustainable agriculture, improve Chesapeake Bay water quality, sequester carbon, and reduce energy use. 2. The Consortium participated in two Chesapeake Bay Program's STAC Pasture Management Workshops in October 27-28, 2009 and March 10-11, 2010. We helped the STAC arrive at new effectiveness ratings for several pasture BMP's for reducing phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment to the Bay. This was the outcome of our sending them our concerns about giving pasture best management practices proper credit in reducing N, P, and sediment loads to the Bay based on the resolution passed at our 2009 Annual Meeting to offer the expertise of our membership to them. Attendees representing the Consortium were Ray Bryant, Howard Skinner, and Matt Sanderson from ARS at University Park, PA and Jim Bonta and Lloyd Owens from ARS at Coshocton, OH, and James Cropper, Executive Director. 3. Two newsletters were published and distributed primarily as attachments to emails to all of the membership. 4. The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Consortium was held on January 20-21 at the Lake Morey Resort at Fairlee, Vermont. Seventy-four people were in attendance. It was held just prior to the Vermont Grazing Conference that began on January 22 with workshops. The Consortium and the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture cost-shared the expenses for having Kathy Voth from Livestock for Landscapes travel from Colorado to talk about educating cows to eat weeds they ordinarily refuse before both groups. John Obrycki from the University of Kentucky was also invited as an outside speaker to talk about biological control of multiflora rose, an invasive shrub common to pastures throughout the Northeast. Both gave very informative and attention getting presentations. 5. Placed the proceedings of the 2010 annual meeting including power point slides and handouts and speaker biographical sketches on the Consortium website, Northeast Grazing Guide, for post-meeting access. 6. The Northeast Grazing Guide website for the Consortium is still being updated by webmaster Richard Kersbergen, Extension Specialist of the University of Maine. Website address is: http://www.umaine.edu/grazingguide/. 7. Dr. Margaret Smith Einarson, Cornell University, became NEERA 1000 Administrative Advisor for the Northeast Pasture Consortium in July 2009. She replaced Bruce McPheron, who was promoted to Dean of the College of Agriculture at Penn State University. 8. Alert emails were sent to the private stakeholders and the entire Consortium on the Mid-Atlantic Grass Finished Livestock Conference, the NYC Watershed Agricultural Council Executive Director position announcement, a Sign-On letter in support of SARE and Organic Transitions funding from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (C. Bailey signed for the stakeholders), a Sign On letter from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) about Conservation Stewardship Program urging Secretary Vilsack to make critical improvements to the Conservation Stewardship Program and initiate a 2010 sign up as soon as possible, an email from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) about Amend the Food Safety Modernization Act sent Sunday, January 31, 2010 for its implications with regard to locally produced and sold pasture-based foods, and nomination packet for the 2010 Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemens Foundation for beef cattle producers. 9. Teleconferences are held monthly by the Executive Committee to plan the next annual meeting and address other issues that come up during the year, such as planning the trip to Washington DC to visit USDA national headquarters and Capitol Hill, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and other actions required to guide pasture-based agriculture in a manner most suitable for the Northeast US. 10. Letter of support sent for a NIFA - Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative grant proposal submitted by Dr. Andre Brito, UNH entitled Addressing the Nutritional and Reproductive Research and Extension Needs of the Organic Dairy Industry in the Northeast". 11. Letter sent to Congress members by the Stakeholder Committee to rally support to reinstate the budget for the ARS Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center at Beaver, WV. President Obama's 2011 Budget for USDA has slated it for closure. 12. Provide support on NRCS's effort to develop the De-Md-Va Grazing Monitoring Project to look for grant money and develop some basic monitoring protocols to address critical needs in the Chesapeake Bay model for pastureland resource conservation effects on water quality. 13. Recruited eleven new farm members to the Consortium to replace retiring farm members. 14. Letter to David White, Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, sent July 2009 to congratulate him on his promotion to Chief and let him know what we are and what we do. 15. Letters of support to Dr. Diane Van Hekken for two new Wyndmoor ARS projects entitled: "Processing methods to modify the levels of biologically active compounds in milk and cheese" and Impact of Seasonal Changes in Animal Feed on the Biologically Active Compounds in Milk from Grass-based and Conventional Dairy Herds that address private-sector research priorities. 16. Sent letter of congratulations to Dr. Rajiv Shah, Chief Scientist for USDA and Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and told him about the Consortium's work and how it related to REE research priorities. 17. Private Sector members were sent a complementary copy of the book Animal Production Systems for Pasture-Based Livestock Production, NRAES-171, as a token of appreciation for their contributions to the success of the NE Pasture Research & Extension Consortium. 18. Sent letter of support to Dr. Martin Shipitalo of ARS at Coshocton, OH for a OARDC NIFA planning grant proposal to entitled Environmental Sustainability of Organic Farming Systems: On-Farm, Experimental, and Watershed Assessments.