Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Irrigation Management for Humid and Sub-humid Areas S-1018 Regional Project Meeting 10-11 April, 2006, Gainesville, FL Minutes In Attendance (Research Presentations *) Winston Hagler (SAES Administrative Advisor) Ramon Arancibia* (VI) Ed Barnes (Cotton Inc) Ernie Clawson* (LA) Dorota Haman* (FL) Michael Dukes* (FL) Larry Parsons* (FL) Paul Counce* (AR) Ken Fisher* (MS-ARS) Gretchen Sassenrath* (MS-ARS) Garry Grabow* (NC) Kerry Harrison* (GA) Jim Hook* (GA) Ian McCann* (DE) Tom Owino* (SC) Dan Thomas* (LA) Clarence Prestwich* (NRCS) Keith Admire (NRCS) Mark Dougherty (AL) was unable to attend but provided a presentation The meeting began on 10 April with a tour to the University of Florida Plant Science Research and Education Unit (PSREU). A general tour of the facility to provide an overview and background information was followed by detailed information on several individual projects, including · Turfgrass sensor irrigation · Weighing lysimeters and ET/Kc for grass · Sensors for irrigation and nitrogen management on vegetables · Blueberry irrigation · Remote sensing. Following lunch at PSREU the tour visited Robrick Nursery, which uses various versions of ebb and flow irrigation, and Grandiflora Nursery, which produces a large variety of plants using a water drainage and reuse system. The business meeting as well as presentations and updates from those present was held on the following day in Rogers Hall at the UF campus, The group extended thanks and appreciation to the chair, Dorota Haman, and to Michael Dukes and all the UF personnel involved in hosting the meeting and arranging a very good tour. Topics discussed at the business meeting included: · Reporting deadline: The deadline to send reports to the secretary was one month following the meeting (11 May). One report should be sent from each state after coordination between participants within each state. · Active participation. The current list includes many non-active participants. Sassenrath indicated that annual reports/CDs were sent to many people last year who are probably not active, and so presented a motion to define active participation as: 1. Attendance at an annual meeting at least once every three years, and 2. Contribution to the annual report. The motion was seconded by Haman, and passed. The mailing list currently will be that provided on the NIMSS website. A final email should be sent to non-active participants. Winston Hagler suggested identifying people who have not been involved so far, and that an Excel list will be generated to use for mailings. He will maintain the mailing list. · There should be a link to meeting details, such as hotel arrangements, on the website. There should also be links to publications. · Paul Counce was elected Secretary, so that the meeting in year 5 (the final year) will be in Arkansas. Gretchen Sassenrath moves to Chair, with the next meeting to be held in Mississippi. Ian McCann moves to Vice Chair. · There was discussion on focusing reports on topic areas as well as on the stated objectives of the project. Suggested topic areas and participation included: 1. Drip irrigation (Hook, McCann, Arancibia, Grabow, Dukes, Haman 2. Lysimeters/crop coefficients (Fisher, Dukes, Haman, Clawson, Owino, Arancibia, Prestwich, Counce 3. Soil moisture measurement (Parsons, McCann, Hook, Dougherty, Owino, Fisher 4. Remote sensing (Sassenrath, Judge, Thomson) 5. Automation systems (Fisher, Hook, Dukes, Arancibia, Grabow 6. Evaluation of irrigation schedulers, decision support/models (Pringle, Counce, Tacker, Vories, Clawson, Owino, Hook) 7. On-farm water storage (Dougherty, Carmen, Hook, Arancibia) 8. Surface Irrigation (Thomas, Vories, Tacker, Admire, Prestwich 9. Sprinkler Irrigation (Pringle, Prestwich, Harrison, McCann) 10. E-Extension (Obreza, Harrison, Haman, Dukes, Owino, Counce, Prestwich, Grabow). There was discussion on developing training modules for irrigation in humid regions, and schools/short courses/extension material. Suggestions included partnership with the Irrigation Association on developing instructional modules, and on expanding existing workshops and publications, (including translations for an international audience). There was also discussion on the question of public vs. fee ownership. It was felt activities under this heading would greatly increase the impact of this project. For the annual reports, it was suggested that writing teams be formed to help the secretary. This year Michael Dukes offered help with objective 1 and Dorota Haman offered help with objective 3. Respectfully submitted Ian McCann Secretary