Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Business Meeting Minutes, 19 February 2010 64th Northeastern Corn Improvement Conference Willow Valley Resort, Lancaster, PA President Jim Haldeman called the meeting to order at 11.00 am. The following were in attendance: Jim Haldeman, Tecle Weldekidan, Margaret Smith, Jim Breining, Bob Kratochvil, John Shaffer, Jared Bruckhart, Chris Houser, Taylor Doebler, Greg Roth, Doug Messersmith, and Polly Longenberger. Old Business: Approval of minutes: Jim Breining moved and Margaret Smith seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the 2008 business meeting. The motion carried. The 2009 conference was cancelled due to the economic downturn which has created very tight travel budgets for many of us and resulted in lower numbers of participants for the conference. The 2010 Conference was agreed by the participants to be called the 64th instead of 65th. Jim Haldeman reminded the speakers to send an abstract of their presentation. State and Industry reports followed. State and Industry reports were received from the following persons (see attachments): 1. Margaret Smith, Cornell University 2. Jim Breining, The Pennsylvania State University 3. Bob Kratochvil, University of Maryland 4. Peter Thomison, The Ohio State University 5. Yaylor Doebler, T.A. Seeds 6. Tecle Weldekidan, University of Delaware 7. Polly Longenberger, Pioneer Hi-bred New Business: Treasury: The excess amount of about $2019.27 will stay at the University of Delaware since Delaware is hosting the 2011 meeting. Election of officers: The nominating committee approached Polly Longenberger to determine her willingness to serve as Secretary in 2011 and as President-Elect for 2012. Polly Longenbergers name was placed in nomination. After a brief discussion and no further nominations, she was elected unanimously. The usual progression is for the current secretary to ascend to President for next years conference. Therefore, secretary Tecle Weldekidan will become President for the 2011 conference. 2011 Conference Discussion: It was agreed that President-Elect, Tecle Weldekidan, will arrange a meeting place for the conference at the University of Delaware campus. The participants agreed that we will meet February 17 and 18, 2011 for the 65th NECIC. The participants at the business meeting suggested that the minutes and proceedings of the conference should be put on a website, so that it can get publicity. There was also a discussion on how to attract more people to the conference and was suggested to get mailing list and invite Foundation Seeds, USDA (Maryland), Southern States (North Carolina), University, and the Canadian group. Some of the topics of interest targeted for the 2011 meeting were optimum N rate, Plant Pathology (fungicide use), entomology, breeding, physiology, and agronomy. It was also mentioned to have a tour to see facilities at Dupont, Monsanto (Galena, MD) or invite speakers from there to tell about their work. The group was also interested to hear from EPA/USDA regarding trait approval and import/export process. The participants are interested to have a discussion on conventional hybrids (organic products). It was suggested to have a joint panel discussion with the Northeast Corn Growers Association and agronomists from seed industries. The group suggested, the president to send the first notice regarding the 2011 meeting in early September and a second notice to follow with targeted topics for the conference.