Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The annual business meeting of NC-1034 was held in conjunction with the committees annual research conference, this year entitled, Research Conference on Roles for Public and Private Funding of Agricultural Research in the new National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Research Funding Context. The conference was held at the Economic Research Service of USDA in Washington, DC, March 18-19, 2010. The business meeting was held on March 19. More than 20 scholars and USDA agency staff participated in the conference (see list below). Marshall Martin (Purdue), NC-1034s administrative representative opened up business meeting discussion. He noted that NC-1034 is up for renewal this upcoming year. First, he suggested the group consider which type of committee best suited the groups activities. For example, coordinating committees (NCCCs) focus more on information exchange. NCCCs cannot be Hatch projects, however. NCERA projects often involve taking research and bundling results for outreach. It is more of a nexus between research and extension. A key element of multi-state research projects is true research collaboration across states and participants, not merely sharing separate research results and information with the group. Such evidence of collaboration would include collaborative research activities, publications, or grant submissions. Matt Anderson noted that for his institution (Wyoming) an NC designation was needed to obtain experiment station travel support for participation. Frisvold noted that, given large number of states and individuals involved, everyone is not necessarily collaborating with everyone else. However, there is substantial collaboration among the group members in different configurations. Such collaboration has included: (a) grant proposal writing, (b) workshops and conferences, (c) joint research publications, and (d) special issues of peer reviewed journals, where work of multiple participants are published together. Frisvold stressed the need to emphasize the nature and extent of such collaboration, both in the annual project report and in the project renewal proposal. The group decided to maintain the NC designation for project renewal. Martin then explained the project renewal process and deadlines. Project deadlines are as follows: " 9/15: notify NIMSS data of intent to submit project renewal proposal " 10/15: submit project objectives " 11/15: participants will receive notification to fill our Appendix E contribution to objectives " 12/1: all parts of project proposal must be complete and submitted Next steps after submission: " Martin (administrator) makes recommendations " Proposal then goes to NC ag econ dept heads " Multi-state research committee reviews @ April 1 " 2nd review in July Martin noted that project acceptance will be a bit harder. Projects will receive even more scrutiny because of tight budgets. There was then general discussion concerning the types of research topics to be explored under a new project. These included (a) the economics of research funding mechanisms to inform NIFA (b) background research to inform the research title of the next farm bill (c) world hunger (d) biofuels (e) biotechnology (f) public and private funding of agricultural R&D (g) intellectual property rights David Zilberman (UC-Berkeley) stated that NC-1034 should emphasize its past track record in generating influential, collaborative research publications. George Norton (VA Tech) suggested that we probably dont want more than four main objectives. Martin suggested that multi-disciplinary integration. Frisvold added that annual and renewal reports could do more to highlight inter-disciplinary publications. Zilberman noted that we have frequently invited staff from regulatory agencies to participate in conferences and that they often come from disciplines outside of economics. Carl Pray (Rutgers) raised a question about how much of an international theme the proposal should have. Martin responded that this would be a problem if research on international topics were the only things the group did, but that themes with international components were fine. Martin emphasized the importance on starting early on the renewal proposal. He suggested the possibility of having a writing meeting at the Denver Agricultural and Applied Economics Association meetings at the end of July. Frisvold volunteered to draft a project renewal proposal for general circulation prior to the Denver meetings. Discussion then turned to the 2011 NC-1034 research symposium. This discussion centered on an organizational theme that (a) demonstrated the breadth of the groups collaborative efforts and also addressed new NIFA program priorities. One potential theme title introduced was Biotechnology, Bioenergy & Global Food Security. David Zilberman suggested substituting Bioeconomy as a single word encompassing biotechnology and bioenergy. Julian Alston (UC-Davis) raised questions about how recognized the term bioeconomy was and whether it would be meaningful to outside groups. Vincent Smith (Montana State) suggested holding the meeting in Seattle and approaching the Gates Foundation (headquartered there) for participation and possible support. Several NC-1034 participants are currently working on Gates Foundation supported projects. Further, the Gates Foundation interest in global food security coincides with NIFAs new Global Food Security Challenge area. The group agreed that the symposium should produce a tangible research product such as a book. It was further proposed that we draft a conference / book proposal to the Gates Foundation to see at what level (if any) they may want to participate. This could range from attending or making presentations at the conference up to financial support for the conference itself or for the book publication. It was also noted that the Gates Foundation may be keenly interested in having participation of scholars from developing countries. They might also be keen to invite scientists from other disciplines and desire impact assessments. Again, both these goals are highly consistent with goals of multi-state research projects. Frisvold volunteered to write a first draft of a one-page proposal to show to the Gates Foundation. Smith volunteered to approach economists at Gates to get a sense of initial interest. Zilberman suggested inviting David Ervin of Portland State to participate or help organize the conference. Ervin recently chaired the National Academy of Sciences panel for the book Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States. Other possible sponsors for a book discussed were the Farm Foundation and the International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology. It was also suggested that, if collaboration with the Gates Foundation in Seattle proved infeasible, an alternative would be to hold the conference at the University of California, Berkeley.

Short-term Outcomes: Methods developed by NC-1034 members to evaluate the economic impacts and returns to agricultural research have been widely adopted by USDA agencies, the World Bank, and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Assessments of economic impacts of new technologies have been widely cited in government and National Academy reports on the benefits and costs of biotechnologies. Outputs: Outputs this year included more than 60 publications. Activities: A conference on Biotechnology in Developing Countries at the University of California, Berkeley was organized and attended by NC-1034 members and collaborators. A conference on the Biofuel Situation and Policies in Developing Countries at the University of California, Berkeley was organized and attended by NC-1034 members and collaborators. The conference on the Emerging Bio-Economy  the 13th International Consortium for Agricultural Biotechnology Research (ICABR) Conference  in Ravello, Italy was organized and attended by NC-1034 members and collaborators. NC-1034 members have organized, edited, and published jointly in special issues of journals on project related topics agricultural research and technology management (see Milestones below). The rise of on-line publishing has reduced the time it takes to make research findings available and increases the breadth of information dissemination. Milestones: Publication of a special section of Choices, a journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, on the theme of Agricultural Productivity and Global Food Security in the Long Run. The special section was organized by NC-1034 members and included six articles from NC-1034 members and collaborators reporting results of project-related research. Publication of a special issue of AgBioForum, Herbicide Resistant Crops: Diffusion, Benefits, Pricing, and Resistance Management. The special issue was edited by and featured 13 articles by NC-1034 members and collaborators. These collaborations arose from past interactions from NC-1034 meetings and book publication projects. Publication of a special Issue of AgBioForum, The Future of Agricultural Biotechnology. This special issue included publications by NC-1034 members and international collaborators. Earlier versions of these papers were presented at the annual meeting of International Consortium for Agricultural Biotechnology Research, which was organized by NC-1034 and European collaborators.

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