Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Monday afternoon, March 20, 2000: Introduction by Chairman Russ Mizell, and round table introductions of participants. Russ Mizell provided a review of SRIPM grant proposals funded for FY2000. Jonathan Edelson reported on local arrangements in Ft. Worth. Participants provided brief state reports on IPM activities. Russ Mizell and Mike Merchant (TX) gave presentations on IPM in Public Schools. Tuesday morning and afternoon March 21, 2000: Update on CSREES activities and programs; Mike Fitzner: Chuck Laughlin is the new CSREES administrator and head of 320 CSREES staff. Patricia McAleer was introduced as a new staff member working on program evaluation. Harold Coble is now full time working for OPMP on the development of Pest Management Centers. The CRIS system has been revised to facilitate information retrieval. In the "Integrated Activities" Program, PIAP funds are now competitive. The RFP for the Integrated Programs will be released the end of March., IPM is not included in the "Integrated Programs" category in the FY2001 CSREES budget. A new program called Organic Transition is proposed for $1.5M, and $1.5M is included in the FY2001 budget for the development of Pest Management Centers. M. Fitzner also provided an update on the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) Program (Rodney Foil, Director). Congress has authorized $120M for IFAFS but a bill to prohibit spending was introduced and has not yet been acted on in the house. A decision should be forthcoming; the deadline for proposals has been extended to May 22. Discussion of ideas for regional proposals for IFAS and RAMP; Participants. These included cotton IPM targeting lygus/stink bug (T. Fuchs), processing cucurbits IPM (J. Edelson), and a sustainable small farm initiative (G. Zehnder). No group action was taken. Update from the Experiment Station Directors; David Boethel. Fred Knapp has replaced Skip Jubb as the RFP/grants administrative advisor. The Directors suggested that the region discuss whether the additional credit for weed proposals should be continued in the RFP, and also whether the joint research/extension category should continue to fund one large project, or several smaller projects. D. Boethel asked that information about SERA-IEG3 activities, including meeting minutes, be added to the Directors web page. This information should be forwarded to Tom Helms (MS State) who maintains the Directors web page. 1999 SERA-IEG3 Minutes. Russ Mizell asked for a motion to approve the SERA-IEG3 minutes from the 1999 meeting. Geoff Zehnder asked that the motion to develop a proposal for a Southern Region IPM Facilitator (carried by majority vote) be added to the 1999 minutes. A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the 1999 minutes subject to the addition. 2001 Meeting and Election of New Secretary. A motion was made, seconded and passed to hold the 2001 SERA-IEG3 meeting in Little Rock, AR. Dates for the meeting will be March 19-21, 2001. Gus Lorenz (AR) was elected Secretary for 2000/2001. The Secretary becomes Chair the following year. Karen Vail is current SERA-IEG3 Chair (2000/2001). IPM Facilitator; David Boethel. The Experiment Station Directors voted 7 no and 5 yes with 2 undecided on the IPM Facilitator proposal. The Extension Directors approved the proposal with a caveat to defer to the Experiment Station Directors on the rationale that most SRIPM funds are for research projects. Reasons for no votes included; a facilitator position would be redundant if IPM Centers are established, an IPM Facilitator would set a precedent such that other SERAs would ask for funds for a facilitator, regional funds are limited. A discussion by participants on the value of a Facilitator followed. The feeling among participants in the discussion was that a Facilitator would fill the need for someone to coordinate regional projects and publications and to promote programs. Also a need exists because of the large area and diversity in the southern region. Doug Johnson mentioned that Bobby Pass (SR Grants Manager) believes that the budgeted salary is too low for the position, but would support hiring a regional publicist. A motion was made, seconded and approved to send a SERA-IEG3 member to the Directors meeting in May to present the Facilitator proposal and discuss potential benefits of the position. Ron Stinner offered to obtain information on the value that the position has had in the NE Region. Geoff Zehnder agreed to summarize the information in one-page format and forward to Dave Boethel. Mike Fitzner indicated that the offer of funding for the Facilitator position for FY2001 is still available. SRIPM RFP; Participants. Russ Mizell read a list of proposals approved for funding in FY2000. Participants discussed the RFP and whether to continue to fund one, large project under the joint research/extension category. A motion was made, seconded and approved to include in the RFP a sentence(s) indicating that the review panel has discretion to decide whether proposals submitted in this category meet the criteria outlined in the RFP and, if not, the funds may be allocated to worthy projects in other categories. A suggestion was made to appoint an RFP review committee, and also that the SERA-IEG3 Chair attend the SRIPM review panel meeting and ask the panel for suggestions on improvement of the RFP. Another suggestion was made to develop a list of responsibilities for the Chair and Secretary of SERA-IEG3. A discussion on reporting and the consequences of non-reporting followed. Tom Fuchs made a motion that Mike Fitzner track information on grant termination dates, notify project leaders when reports are due, and receive reports. Jim Starr made a motion that language be inserted in the RFP to the effect that no subsequent funding will be given to a project leader if no report is submitted within 90 days after termination of the project. Motion was seconded and approved. Clarence Collison made a motion to remove the 10% additional credit points on the proposal score sheets (p. 12 of RFP) for weed proposals. Gus Lorenz seconded the motion. The motion was not carried (5 votes for, 9 votes against). A suggestion was made that Jim Schrefler, weed scientist from OK, Lane, review the RFP and provide input on any needed changes from a weed science perspective. A motion was made by Russ Mizell and seconded by Clayton Hollier, to form a committee to review the RFP. Ron Stinner moved that Jim Duthie, Mike Fitzner, Gerrit Cuperus, Jim Schrefler, and Geoff Zehnder serve on the RFP review committee with Jim Schrefler, Chair. The motion was seconded and carried. Jim Duthie volunteered to send the RFP to people representing other disciplines including nematology and weed science. A suggestion was made to have earlier dates for release of the RFP, review and awards. David Boethel agreed to ask the Directors to consider an RFP deadline for full proposals in early December. A suggestion was made to investigate simplifying grant paperwork; e.g., have the lead institution do all paperwork rather than equal paperwork for the lead and all subcontracting institutions. GPRA Reporting; M. Fitzner, P. McAleer, M. Blomberg. CSREES is developing a reporting system that is not burdensome, meets the needs of the region, and is built on partnership (Performance Planning and Reporting System; PPRS). An overview of the PPRS system was presented. CSREES suggests that people responsible for state reporting go through the tutorial first. Passwords for entering the system will be sent via email. Virginia IPM Survey and Reporting Program; Lex Bruce and Ames Herbert. Lex Bruce, Program Evaluator, and Ames Herbert, IPM Coordinator, gave an overview of their process to document IPM impact. Benefits of the system are that the surveys are informal and relatively easy for agents to give to growers. Handouts with survey forms were distributed to participants. Texas IPM Evaluation Program; Tom Fuchs. A diversity index is used consisting of four categories. If growers are using one practice for each of the categories, they are considered to be adopters of IPM practices. The data is focused on practices, not numbers. Meeting adjourned at 5:45 PM.