Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Meeting was opened by Dr. Jeff Gore, Chair. Dr. Jim Harper was asked for comments from directors of experiment station. Dr. Harper indicated that the 5-year period for this group ended in 2010. A report would need to be filed on behalf of the group to extend for another 5 years. Dr. Rogers Leonard was asked to provide some information regarding the IEG. Dr. Leonard asked about the value of the meeting, and indicated that the southern directors had established this IEG to discuss common research opportunities for individuals across state lines. Historically, the meeting had a simple topic of importance across the cotton belt (boll weevil), and reports were given to provoke discussion and research ideas. Five years ago, the decision was made to extend the IEG and to have symposia in conjunction with either the Southeastern Branch meeting or the Southwestern Branch meeting. Dr. Gore asked if there was a need to continue the group before going any further or if the group needed to generate some new interest. Dr. Jack Bacheler asked about formal procedures for continuing the group. Dr. Harper indicated that a formal proposal would be required along with the completion of a few procedural steps to renew the IEG. Dr. Gore brought up the lack of participation in the IEG. Dr. John Ruberson indicated that symposia were easy to do at the Southeastern Branch meeting. Dr. Leonard suggested that the experiment station directors wanted to ensure that monies were spent wisely for the meeting. Dr. Harper indicated that directors only provided funding for multi-state projects and that the southern region department heads met to ensure that the group was meeting its proposed objectives. Dr. Scott Stewart indicated that the potential existed for interaction with other individuals across the cotton belt, but this had not been the case for years. Dr. Gore asked if there was any benefit for the directors from continuing this IEG. Dr. Harper suggested that the only benefit was for the IEG group itself. Dr. Don Cook suggested that the primary issue was that there was no common insect problem across the cotton belt and that insect issues were more regionalized. Dr. Stewart cited the lack of participation. Dr. Phillip Roberts indicated that there was value to hearing about other issues. There may not be other avenues for interaction among group members in the future. He asked about the process of starting an IEG at a later date. Dr. Harper indicated that starting an IEG was a simple process, taking about a year to establish. The group would need to develop a proposal with objectives. Multi-state projects take more effort than an IEG. Dr. Gore asked for a motion to vote on the continuation of the IEG. Dr. Catchot stated that he did not know the purpose for the IEG. Dr. Tina Teague suggested that it had great value when boll weevil was the topic and a problem across the belt. Dr. Catchot suggested that it might be a good idea to continue the IEG in order to further applied research and extension entomology. Dr. Charles Suh indicated that the meeting was used to establish collaboration and discuss research plans in the past, but that this was not the case any longer. Dr. Gus Lorenz suggested that the IEG could be the venue to replace the Cotton Pest Management Seminar without industry sponsorship in an effort to free up discussion from the group. Drs. Leonard and Lorenz discussed tagging this meeting onto the Beltwide Cotton Conf. in order to increase participation from others in the cotton belt. Dr. Leonard proposed that a committee be formed to investigate other possibilities in order to generate more information so that a decision could be made at a later date. Dr. Harper indicated that the group would need to decide within the next couple of months. Dr. Lorenz suggested using the IEG to discuss beltwide issues such as thrips, armyworms, and/or the sucking bug complex. Dr. Randy Luttrell suggested that no reason to continue the group had been established during the discussion. Dr. Luttrell motioned that the group end the IEG and suggested that if the need arose within the next year or so to start another, then do so. Dr. Roberts seconded the motion. The motion was passed with a unanimous vote of the participants. Dr. Gore adjourned the meeting.