Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

This meeting was cancelled due to cancellation of the Hypoxia Task Force meeting, which was caused by hurricane Florance travel disruptions.  Below are minutes from a two hour video conference that was held on Tuesday, Sep 18 in place of the meeting.

Member Updates:

Multistate team working on fertilizer recommendations (N, P, K) as part of CIG grant; NC to AR and South; may want to seek synergy with SERA-46; building database; Deanna Osmond leading the project; collaborating with soil testing groups (SERA-6, others); communication might be an outcome?

Mike Daniels - attended southern extension directors’ natural resources group; formed a water committee to seek out funding to leverage funds for marketing LGU water programming/extension resources; Eric has kept this group aware of SERA-46 work

Karelyn Cruz: NIFA Updates

NIFA has a new director (Dr. Scott Angle) beginning in Oct; Priority Areas: Sustainable Agroecosystems - soil health, water mgmt, ecosystem services, tools, BMPs *close fit to our SERA-46 work; Ag Microbiomes - systems approach, bigger than just soil microbiome, smaller projects; Networks for Synthesis, Data Sharing, Mgmt - research to interpret data already available - producing tools, BMPs, networks (regional/national/international); Ag Systems/Technology - ag engineering; nanotechnology; FACT - cyberinformatics tools; ELI - Educational and Literacy Initiative (K-14 educators, undergrads, pre-doc/post-doc fellowships); AFRI FASE Grants - must be EPSCoR state/minority-serving institution, conference grants; Sustainable Ag Systems (SAS), $80m, catalyze transformational changes in US ag;

• If we need more programmatic information, contact national program leader directly.
• NIFA Listens - https://nifa.usda.gov/nifalistens comments deadline Nov 30, 2018
  • What is needed to move the needle in science and technology?
  • What are top priorities for food and ag?

Naveen Adusumilli

• Master Farmer
• Nutrient credit trading resolution
  • Monitor and evaluate BMPs
  • conflict with crop insurance and conservation practices - unintended consequences - more cover crops are integrated in cropping systems the more normalized the practice become
  • Split N applications
  • Will trading work in the absence of caps?
    • Using NRCS practice stds to determine efficiency
    • Some conservation practices not documented
    • Trading should stay within watershed? Watershed size? What are the trading boundaries?
    • How to communicate effectively to apply less fertilizer
    • Are there voluntary targets? Does the 45% voluntary reduction serve as a target for states?
  • AR farmers concerned about liability of conservation practices to improve water quality, what if the water quality is NOT improved?

Separate conversation about trading possibilities? Katie is willing to organize a spin-off conversation.

Eric: kudos for a successful SERA group and progress on original proposal

• focus objectives a bit more
• Co-chairs for writing committee (total committee 5-6 people - Laura, Amanda, Beth, Rebecca, Mike, Naveen, Dan Downing, Wes - Katie as well?) - cross-section of expertise, research and extension
• 1st draft before holiday break sent to larger group, 4 wks review time
• review draft by April 1 to Eric
• condense background and justification bc we are already established
• talk about what we have accomplished and justification for continuing on

Leadership Transition

• Beth Baker moved into lead co-chair, Mike Daniels into co-chair roles
• Nominations for new secretary:
  • Forbes Walker
  • Fabian Fernandez - new secretary

Renewing SERA-46 proposal

• Include a “Why” component
  • EPA uses Shared Priorities document and others as they share with ag partners the needs for research in the MARB
• Critical needs
  • Relationship objective (LGU and state/federal agencies,; farmer/farm advisors)
  • Critical research needs
  • Critical extension needs
• Tracking progress - will SERA-46 be the holder of information/archive if funding for specific projects goes away?
  • Website? Who hosts? Director’s office willing to host?
  • WFF update documents coming in the next few months; keeping in mind how to expand this framework throughout the basin
  • SERA-46 members contributing to a data source for utilization in states’ nutrient reduction strategies
• Members
  • Early Summer 2019 - Current and official members have to rejoin - membership doesn’t automatically transfer
  • Send names to Eric of members who have been inactive +/- one year and he will follow up with directors
• Collaboration with other intenties
  • Chesapeake Bay Program - Jason Hubbart, Katie could help us think through exchange; STAC consortium involves land-grant universities
  • Voluntary vs regulatory nutrient reductions

Accomplishments will be reported after the rescheduled face-to-face meeting in late Jan or Feb, 2019.