Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting: BRIEF SUMMARY OF MINUTES FROM THE 2005 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WERA-72 Dates: June 18-20, 2006 Location: Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV Presiding Chair: Ruby Ward, Associate Professor, Utah State University On Monday, June 19, at 8am, the meeting began with a welcome and opening comments by the Chair and Vice Chair, and the appointment of a nomination committee. The meeting progressed as planned in the program until the next day (see attached program). This included 2 general session by Robert Harris, Alliance Foods, Inc. and 15 papers were presented. Applications of pod casting for teaching were illustrated as well as a panel discussion on teaching tips. There was a business meeting were at approximately 11:00am on Tuesday, June 20, the Chair called the body to order to conduct our annual business meeting. The following items were discussed. 1. The minutes from the previous years meetings were approved as submitted. 2. The nominating committee submitted a slate of candidate(s)??. Each was elected by unanimous consent of the body. Those elected are, a. Wes Harrison, Louisiana State University, Secretary b. Al Wysocki, University of Florida, Treasurer 3. Treasurers Report was presented by Al Wysocki via Pod Casting. He reported a beginning balance (pre-annual meeting) of $8,379.31, and a projected ending balance, post-meeting, of $8,153.31, including past registration fees of $$1,020.00 collected in 2006. He also reported that Sue Hines was able to perform the functions of Treasury because she took a new appointment with the Business School at Colorado State University and is no longer maintaining her Agribusiness focus. Al proposed we discuss strategies to sustain a 49 member attendance to break-even for subsequent years. He also mentioned the 80 room nights requirement at the Monte Carlo to enable us to meet at the same hotel in June, 2007 and receive needed discounts. 4. Special Item  Choices Magazine requested themes of 4-5 Agribusiness Finance papers (or in other related areas) for publication consideration. Questions arose about the feasibility of the entire group working on this proposal or delegating an individual to champion the endeavor. 5. The Chair led a discussion to determine the date for next years meetings. The body tentatively set the dates for our 2007 meetings as June 17 to 19, 2007. 6. The Chair reminded the membership that all participants needed to report their research, teaching and outreach activities for 2005/06 to Ruby Ward by September 1, 2006. She needs this information to complete the WERA-72 annual report. 7. James Sterns led a brief discussion on the desire by the Executive Committee to make the 2007 meeting special, marking 20years of existence of the organization. Suggestions were made to bring back the early founders like Steve Sonka and others to discuss the past and future of agribusiness research, teaching, and outreach. The Vice Chair will follow-up on these invitations. 8. Aaron Johnson, Oregon State University, led a brief discussion on travel incentives student sponsorship to the Food Distribution Research Society Meetings in October 14 and 15th, 2006. He encouraged faculty and their students to take advantage of this opportunity. For more information about this, contact Aaron. 9. A similar discussion on student support travel grant was initiated following point #8. The group agreed (did we vote of this ???) that all (or up to 5 students) presenting selected papers should receive $200 travel grant and pay no registration fee. The benefits to the group will be to encourage student participation and help satisfy the 80 room nights minimum requirement discussed in item #3. 10. Gregory Baker announced the possibility of reduced IAMA registration fee for faculty to encourage faculty participation. Meeting was adjourned at noon, and the final research paper session of the day was completed as scheduled. Attached is a copy of the minutes from the meeting and the program.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS We have continued to work on coordination of research, extension, and teaching projects among participating faculty, graduate students, government, and industry leaders that result in the publication of joint research papers and extension publications. We have also identified critical issues facing our industry such as opportunities for university based research projects to compliment the industry. We also looked at RFID and implications for the food industry. We had a number of presentations and discussion about research regarding issues related to agribusiness management and competitiveness. We discussed teaching and learned from experts tips to enhance teaching of agribusiness programs and learned about new technology for teaching. We were able to network and discuss research and other issues at the meals, breaks and other times. Finally, we increased quality and output of research and extension products through participant collaboration in integrated and multi-state work.

Sterns, James S. Presentation: "Constraining and Enabling Product Differentiation - A call for Subject Matter Research." A presentation as part of a selected organized symposium at the AAEA Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA, July 24, 2006. Wysocki, Allen F. Presentation: "Helping Your Small Farmers to Develop a Business Plan." Presented at Annual IFAS Extension Symposium, May 18, 2006. Wysocki, Allen F. Presentation: Finding Niche Markets." Presented at the Suwannee Valley Twilight Field Day, May 23, 2006 Wysocki, Allen F. Presentation: "Selling Basics-Communicating Value to Your Customers." Presented at the North Florida Research and Education Center Fall Field Day, November 2, 2006 Ernst, Stan and Neal H. Hooker. 2006. Signaling Quality in an E-Commerce Environment: The Case of an Emerging E-Grocery Sector. Journal of Food Products Marketing. 12(4): pp. 11-26 Ernst, Stan, Leslie Stoel, Neal H. Hooker, and Monica Skolmutch. 2006. IT and E-Commerce Use by Small Food Retailers: Preliminary Findings. Abstract in Journal of Food Distribution Research. 37(1): pp. 183-184 Hooker, Neal H. and Wenjing Shang. 2006b. Using Consumer Information to Improve Recalls. Battelle/John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy Day. Working Paper 06-2 Hall, Charles, Alan Hodges, and John Haydu. "Economic Impact of the Green Industry in the United States," HortTeachnology, accepted for publication., December 2005. B. Behe, J. Hardy, S. Barton, J. Brooker, T. Fernandez, C. Hall, J. Hicks, R. Hinson, P. Knight, R. McNiel, T. Page, B. Rowe, C. Safley, and R. Schutzki. 2005. "Landscape Plant Material, Size, and Design Sophistication Increase Perceived Home Value," Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 23(3):127-133. Brooker, John, David Eastwood, Charles Hall, Edmund Estes, Timothy Woods, James Epperson, and Forrest Stegelin, State Department of Agriculture Participation in Fresh Produce Marketing in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, Journal of Food Distribution Research, Proceedings Issue, Research Updates, Volume 36, Number 1, March 2005.