Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy Meeting

 

The Marquette Hotel

Minneapolis, MN

 

July 29 & 30, 2009

 

Draft Agenda

 

 

 

 

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ESCOP Agenda Brief

July 29, 2009

 Agenda Item 4.0: Policy Board of Directors Report

 Presenter: Nancy Cox

 Background Information:

 The BAA Policy Board of Directors will meet on Tuesday, July 28 prior to the Joint COPs meeting.  A brief report will be given on items discussed at that meeting.

 

Action Requested:

 

None, information only.
 

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Item: 6.0

Budget and Legislative Committee Report

Presenter:  David Boethel/Mike Harrington

 

Both the House and Senate agriculture appropriations subcommittees have marked up the FY 2010 budget.  Overall NIFA funds would increase by nearly 6.5% over FY 2009; with increases proposed for Hatch (3.81 %), McIntire Stennis (8.9%) and Evans- Allen (7.6%).  AFRI would increase by a whopping 46% but there was offset by a 40% decrease in Special Grants.  The new research programs in the Farm Bill (Organic Agriculture Research and Extension, Specialty Crop Research, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development; and Biomass R&D) which are not included in the table were maintained at the mandatory amounts totaling $117 million.  The table below shows individual lines and the respective % changes. While there were sizeable increases in certain Extension lines, on a percentage basis research and education activities fared better.

 

SECTION PRIORITIES FY 2011 RESULTS

Overarching Priorities:

·         The Directors indicate that maintaining capacity for research through base funds (Hatch, Evans-Allen, McIntire-Stennis, and Animal Health is the top priority by 70%:30% margin over moving funds into competitive programs. 

·         Increasing funding for the AFRI with emphasis on integrated activities continues to be an important priority

·         The Directors favor the concept of “continuing services” increases for the formula programs but suggest that the increase should be 5% to 10% rather than the rate of inflation.

·         Directors strongly favored seeking increases for new research programs in the 2008 Farm Bill:

• Biomass Research and Development – 83%
• Specialty Crops Research Initiative – 83%
• Organic Agriculture- 52%

 

WHAT IS THE NEXT $100 MILLION PROGRAM?

 

 

CHANGING BAA-BUDGET AND ADVOCACY COMMITTEE PROCESS AND THE USE OF THEMES

Your committee believes that the use of Themes may be an effective means present our message and to garner additional resources.  However, the committee believes that the “Themes” document needs to free of reference to specific programs because this might limit the vision of a particular area.  A letter expressing support and the above concern was sent to BAC Chair Scott Smith.

 

BREAK OUT DISCUSSIONS FOR THE ESS ANNUAL MEETING

Planning is underway for the ESS annual meeting which will develop preliminary priorities for 2012.

 

National Institute of Food and Agriculture
FY 2010 House and Senate Marks Compared to Prior Years
(All $Millions)
	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 09-10	FY 09-10
Research and Education Activities	Enacted	Enacted	President	House	Senate	Mean	Change in $	% Change
Hatch Act	195.812	207.106	207.106	215.000	215.000	215.000	7.894	3.81
McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry	24.791	27.535	27.535	28.000	30.000	29.000	2.465	8.95
Evans-Allen Program (1890s Research)	41.051	45.504	45.504	48.000	49.000	48.500	3.496	7.68
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative	190.883	201.504	201.504	210.000	295.181	252.591	93.677	46.49
Improved Pest Control	15.313	15.945	15.945	15.945	16.423	16.184	0.478	3.00
Special Research Grants	91.775	84.499	2.021	70.676	50.456	60.566	-34.043	-40.29
Animal Health and Disease (Sec. 1433)	4.971	2.950	2.950	2.950	1.000	1.975	-1.950	-66.10
1994 Institutions Research Program	1.533	1.610	1.610	1.610	2.000	1.805	0.390	24.22
Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration	0.983	0.983	0.983	0.983	0.983	0.983	0.000	0.00
Graduate Fellowship Grants	3.675	3.859	3.859	3.859	3.859	3.859	0.000	0.00
Institution Challenge Grants	5.385	5.654	23.154	5.654	5.654	5.654	0.000	0.00
Multicultural Scholars Program	0.981	0.981	0.981	0.981	0.981	0.981	0.000	0.00
Hispanic Education Partnership Grants	6.046	6.237	9.237	10.000	7.737	8.869	1.500	24.05
Secondary/2-year Post Secondary	0.983	0.983	18.483	0.983	0.983	0.983	0.000	0.00
Capacity Building Grants (1890 Institutions)	13.592	15.000	18.000	20.000	16.500	18.250	1.500	10.00
Payments to the 1994 Institutions	3.319	3.342	3.342	3.342	3.342	3.342	0.000	0.00
Native Alaska/Hawaiian-Serving Education Grants	3.196	3.196	3.196	3.196	3.200	3.198	0.004	0.13
Resident Instruction Grants for Insular Areas	0.745	0.800	0.800	1.000	0.800	0.900	0.000	0.00
Distance Education Grants for Insular Areas				1.000		1.000	0.500	100.00
Sun Grant Program		0.000	0.000	3.000		3.000	1.500	100.00
New Era Rural Technology Program		0.750	0.750	1.000	0.750	0.875	0.000	0.00
Veterinary Medical Services Act	0.869	2.950	2.950	4.000	5.000	4.500	2.050	69.49
Federal Administration (Total)	42.154	39.426	12.753	38.498	25.111	31.805	-14.315	-36.31
Alternative Crops	0.819	0.819	0.819	0.000	0.850	0.425	0.031	3.79
Aquaculture Centers (Sec.1475)	3.928	3.928	3.928	3.928	3.928	3.928	0.000	0.00
Critical Agricultural Materials Act	1.083	1.083	1.083	0.000	1.083	0.542	0.000	0.00
Sustainable Agriculture Research & Ed. (SARE)	14.399	14.399	14.399	14.399	14.500	14.450	0.101	0.70
Subtotal	668.286	691.043	622.892	708.004	754.321	731.163	63.278	9.16
	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 09-10	FY 09-10
Extension Activities	Enacted	Enacted	President	House	Senate	Mean	Change in $	% Change
Smith Lever Sections 3(b) and 3(c)	274.660	288.548	288.548	295.000	300.000	297.500	11.452	3.97
Smith Lever Section 3(d):
Farm Safety	4.726	4.863	0.000	4.863	4.863	4.863	0.000	0.00
Food and Nutrition Education (EFNEP)	65.557	66.155	66.155	68.000	68.139	68.070	1.984	3.00
Indian Reservation Agents	2.979	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.090	3.045	0.090	3.00
New Technologies for Ag Extension (eXtension)	1.475	1.500	1.500	1.500	2.000	1.750	0.500	33.33
Pest Management	9.791	9.791	9.791	9.791	10.085	9.938	0.294	3.00
Sustainable Agriculture	4.568	4.568	4.568	4.568	4.705	4.637	0.137	3.00
Youth at Risk	7.968	8.182	8.182	8.396	8.427	8.412	0.245	2.99
Youth Farm Safety Education and Certification	0.463	0.479	0.479	0.479	0.493	0.486	0.014	2.92
Improved Rural Quality of Life Grants			28.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.00
1890 Institutions and Tuskegee	35.850	40.150	40.150	44.000	41.354	42.677	1.204	3.00
1890 Facilities Grants (Sec. 1447)	17.267	18.000	18.000	21.000	18.540	19.770	0.540	3.00
Renewable Resources Extension Act	4.008	4.008	4.008	4.008	4.128	4.068	0.120	2.99
Rural Health and Safety Education	1.738	1.738	1.738	0.000	1.738	0.869	0.000	0.00
Extension Services at the 1994 Institutions	3.298	3.321	4.321	4.321	4.000	4.161	0.679	20.45
Food Animal Residue Avoidance Database		0.806	0.000	0.806	1.000	0.903	0.194	24.07
Grants to Youth Organizations	1.737	1.767	0.000	1.800	1.767	1.784	0.000	0.00
Women and Minorities in STEM fields					0.500	0.500	0.500	100.00
Federal Administration and Special Grants (total)	17.180	17.374	8.565	13.934	16.463	15.199	-0.911	-5.24
Subtotal	453.265	474.250	487.005	485.466	491.292	488.379	11.216	2.36
	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 09-10	FY 09-10
Integrated Activities	Enacted	Enacted	President	House	Senate	Mean	Change in $	% Change
Water Quality	12.649	12.649	12.649	12.649	12.649	12.649	0.000	0.00
Food Safety	14.596	14.596	14.596	14.596	14.596	14.596	0.000	0.00
Regional Pest Management Centers	4.096	4.096	4.096	4.096	4.096	4.096	0.000	0.00
Crops at Risk from FQPA Implementation	1.365	1.365	1.365	1.365	1.365	1.365	0.000	0.00
FQPA Risk Mitigation Prog. for Major Food Crops	4.388	4.388	4.388	4.388	4.388	4.388	0.000	0.00
Methyl Bromide Transition Program	3.054	3.054	3.054	3.054	3.054	3.054	0.000	0.00
Organic Transition Program	1.842	1.842	1.842	5.000	1.842	3.421	0.000	0.00
International Science and Education Grants Program	1.986	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.000	0.000	0.00
Critical Issues Program	0.732	0.732	0.732	0.732	0.732	0.732	0.000	0.00
Regional Rural Development Centers	1.312	1.312	1.312	1.312	1.312	1.312	0.000	0.00
Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative	9.830	9.830	9.830	9.830	9.830	9.830	0.000	0.00
Subtotal	55.850	56.864	56.864	60.022	56.864	58.443	0.000	0.00
	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 09-10	FY 09-10
Other NIFA Accounts	Enacted	Enacted	President	House	Senate	Mean	Change in $	% Change
Tribal Colleges Endowment Fund	11.717	11.880	11.880	11.880	11.880	11.880	0.000	0.00
Interest (Estimated) on Tribal Colleges Endowment	3.209	3.700	3.700	3.700	3.700	3.700	0.000	0.00
	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 2010	FY 09-10	FY 09-10
NIFA (Agency Total)	Enacted	Enacted	President	House	Senate	Mean	Change in $	% Change
TOTAL	1,192.327	1,237.737	1,182.341	1,269.072	1,318.057	1293.565	80.320	6.49

 

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Item 7.0:  SCMIC Report

Presenters: Jerry Arkin/Arlen Leholm/John Scofield

Dear SCMIC Committee,

Paul Coreil and Steve Pueppke, SCMIC Chair and Co-Chair have approved the agenda below for our SCMIC meeting at the Joint COPs. I have also attached a copy of our agenda. The meeting will be a Breakfast meeting held from 7:00 to 8:15 AM on Wednesday July 29 in a corner of the Joint Breakfast area.

Note, I have attached key documents that all SCMIC members may want to review before the meeting.

• Podesta First and Second Quarter Reports
• Cornerstones's Report "Analysis of PG Q2 2009 Report"
• SCMIC Operating Guidelines
• SCMIC Communications Metrics
• SCMIC Agenda July 29

Wendy Wintersteen, AHS head, SCMIC member and a long time member of the ESCOP Marketing committee. She will be at the SCMIC meeting. Wendy would like to nominate a new AHS person to replace Jimmy Cheek and have us consider a third AHS member. That would take a change in our operating procedures.  It may help with buy in from AHS.

This meeting will be very important.  Wendy will provide some important insights for us.  Cornerstone believes the effort has stepped up from Podesta in the past quarter.  Yet we may need improvements from our System to make this effort successful in the long term.  Hunt Shipman wants to talk about this. 

Also, since the Policy Board was unsuccessful in getting the changes it proposed in its membership passed, we will need to address how SCMIC will report to the Policy Board. The proposed changes would have put both the ESCOP and ECOP chairs on the Policy board.

This marketing effort is important.  If we do not succeed in this effort, it will be very hard to every launch a new effort.

We have a lot to accomplish in 75 minutes.

 Agenda

(1) Introductions - Paul Coreil, Chair ( 5 minutes)
(2) Report from Podesta - John Scofield ( See Quarter one and two reports) (20 minutes)
(3) Report from Cornerstone - Hunt Shipman (See attached Cornerstone report) (10 minutes)
(Item 2 and 3 will include discussions with John and Hunt)
Have John Scofield and Hunt Shipman leave our meeting
(4) Open discussion on how the marketing effort is going (15 minutes)
(5)  Proposed Changes to SCMIC Operating Procedures (See operating procedures attachment) (10 minutes)
(5a) Replace Jimmy Cheek and vote on a third AHS member - Wendy Wintersteen
(5b) Vote on two meetings a year for SCMIC, Joint COPs in July and when CARET meets in February
(5c) Develop strategy for SCMIC Chair reporting to the Policy Board of Directors
(6) Develop strategy for improvements to SCMIC and Marketing efforts including possibly creating a working group. (10 minutes)
(7 ) Other ( 5 minutes)

Sincerely,

Arlen Leholm

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ESCOP Agenda Brief

July 29, 2009

 

Agenda Item 8.0: NRSP Review Committee

Presenters: Craig Nessler/Eric Young

 

The NRSP Review Committee met in Washington, DC on June 3-4 to discuss the NRSPs’ budget requests and proposals.  The Review Committee developed the following recommendations for the FY ‘10 NRSP portfolio.  The NRSP-RC will have a conference call in late August to consider any comments received from the regional associations and develop final recommendations which will be considered at the September ESS meeting.

 

The NRSP-RC also discussed how it could better manage review of proposals for new NRSP’s, including peer reviews and the writing committee’s responses to those reviews.  Revisions to the NRSP Guidelines are proposed to help accomplish this.

 

NRSP Review Committee Recommendations for FY2010:

 

NRSP-1 – Research Planning Using the Current Research Information System (CRIS)

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $346,829.

 

Comments –

·         Renewal proposal next year needs to address future relationship with the new reporting system, REEport.

·         Current project terminates Sep 30, 2010.

 

NRSP-3 – National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP)

 

Approve renewal proposal for ’09 –’14.

Approve FY’10 budget of $50,000.

 

Comments –

·         Improve communication of future directions with AES directors

 

NRSP-4 – National Agricultural Program to Clear Pest Control Agents for Minor Uses

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $481,182.

 

·         Current project terminates Sep 30, 2010.

 

NRSP-6 – Inter-Regional Potato Introduction Project

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $150,000.

 

Comments –

·         Current project terminates Sep 30, 2010.

NRSP-7 – Minor Use Animal Drugs

 

Approve proposal for ’09 – ’14 with the caveat that MRF funding will be reduced each year by whatever special grant is appropriated for this project up to $325,000 and contingent on receipt of a revised proposal with additional information on the following three questions by August 1.

·         What is the process for selecting which drugs are tested through NRSP-7?

·         How many drugs are on the waiting list and what is the projected progress over the next 5 years?

·         Is the industry support for this activity only $16,800 as indicated in the budget tables?  If not, please provide more information on industry support.

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $325,000, with caveat that MRF funding will be reduced by whatever special grant amount is appropriated for this project in FY’10 up to $325,000.  This recommendation is also contingent on receipt of an acceptable revised proposal.

 

NRSP-8 – National Animal Genome Program

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $500,000.

 Comments –

·         Next year’s budget request must include justification for each species’ budget, including the purpose (ie salary, travel, supplies, etc) and why the funding is divided equally among species rather than based on priority and need.

·         Current project terminates Sep 30, 2013.

 

NRSP_temp161 – National Animal Nutrition Program

 Approve proposal for ’09 – ‘14 contingent on receipt of a revised proposal answering the following questions by August 1, otherwise approval decision will be deferred to next year.

·         Why did NRC stop providing this service? Did they determine if was not needed or used by the industry, or did it become a low budget priority for NRC, or some other reason?

·         What role does ARS have in the proposed activity?

·         Why is the budget split equally between the different activity areas.  What is the justification for this?  What is basic budget for each coordinator and technical group, ie. salaries/wages, travel, supplies, etc?

·         Why is aquaculture and other minor species (small ruminants, horses, etc.) not included?

 

Approve FY’10 budget of $    contingent on receipt of an acceptable revised proposal by August 1

 

NRSP_temp201 – The Specialty Crops Regulatory Assistance Program

 

Defer the decision on this proposal until next year so that a revised proposal may be submitted that addresses the following concerns.  In addition, the four regional Administrative Advisors should be appointed as soon as possible and be closely involved in the proposal’s revision.

·         Provide documentation of substantive interest by the specialty crop industry for this type of program focused on obtaining data needed for regulatory submissions.

·         Provide a description of the process by which proposals for data collection will be reviewed and selected. This process should include input from the spectrum of stakeholders; including consumer groups, specialty crop industry, environmental, and other organizations.

·         Include a requirement for matching funds (not just in-kind) from the appropriate specialty crops industry to support collection of regulatory data for specific crops.

·         Simplify the proposed organization and structure to reduce costs associated with administration.

 

Revisions to NRSP Guidelines

 

The following primary changes in the review process for new NRSP proposals are reflected in the proposed NRSP Guidelines revisions.  To view the Guidelines document with all proposed changes, click here.

 

·         Individuals interested in creating a new NRSP are required encouraged to submit an outline of the proposed NRSP’s objectives, justification, and tentative budget to the NRSP Review Committee for a preliminary review no later than September 1 of the year prior to the proposed start date (ie Sep 1, 2010 for a start date of Oct 1, 2011).  If this review is positive then the following steps should be followed to formally submit a proposal for consideration by the ESS.

 

·         Administrative Advisors submit the project proposal and projected five-year budget, and conducts arranges for anat least three external peer reviewser of the proposal.  Peer reviewers should be instructed to use the peer review form shown in Appendix D.  The Administrative Advisors work with the NRSP development committee to revise the proposal and budget based on the peer review comments.

 

·         Not later than January 15

Administrative Advisors submit revised proposal and five-year budget, along with peer review comments and the committee’s responses, to the Executive DirectorsNRSP Review Committee Chair via NIMSS.  NRSP Review Committee Chair reviews package for completeness and then forwards it to the Executive Directors.

 

·         A new Peer Review form has been developed and will be included in the Guidelines as Appendix D.  The review form currently in the Guidelines will continue to be used as a guide for review by the regional associations.

 

 

Action Requested:

 

None, information only

 

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Item 9.0

Agenda Brief:            ESCOP Science and Technology Committee Report, March – July, 2009

Presenter:                   Gregory Bohach/Daniel Rossi

Background Information:

1.      Committee Membership:

• Chair
  • Greg Bohach (WAAESD)

• Delegates
  • John Liu (SAAESD)
  • Nancy Cox (SAAESD)
  • Mike Hoffmann (NERA)
  • Tom Brady (NERA)
  • Steve Meredith (ARD)
  • Ambrose Anuro  (ARD)
  • Larry Curtis (WAAESD)
  • William Ravlin (NCRA)

• Executive Vice-Chair
  • Dan Rossi (NERA, Executive Director)
• CSREES Representative
  • Meryl Broussard 

• ERS Representative
  • Terry Nelsen 
• Social Science Subcommittee Representative
  • Travis Park
• Pest Management Strategies Subcommittee Representative
  • Frank Zalom
• Liaisons
  • Cliff Gabriel (Office of Science and Technology Policy)
  • Edwin Price (ICOP)
  •  

2.      Multistate Research Award

 

The 2009 Multistate Research Award announcement was released on December 19, 2008.  The deadline for submission to the regional associations was February 27, 2009.  The Committee received nominations from three regional associations – NERA, SAAESD, and WAAESD) and recommended S-1039, “Biology, Impact and Management of Soybean Insect Pests in Soybean Production Systems” as the national winner.  The ESCOP Executive Committee approved this recommendation and information about the winner was forwarded to APLU. The project will be honored at the APLU Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on November 15, 2009.  

 3.      Science Roadmap

At the March ESCOP meeting, the Science and Technology Committee received approval to proceed with proposal to utilize the Delphi process for identifying and confirming grand challenge areas and respective research objectives for the Science Roadmap.  It was proposed that deans, directors of research, Extension and academic programs and key faculty in each institution be asked to participate in the process.  A formal proposal to implement this process was prepared by Dr. Travis park of Cornell and the Executive Committee approved the expenditure of up to $5,000 to support Cornell’s efforts to implement the process and analyze the data.  A letter was prepared for ESCOP Chair Steve Pueppke to send to Deans and Directors requesting their participation and the nomination of up to five researchers or Extension educators to also participate in the process.  The first round was initiated on June 10.  There were 266  participants in the second round.   

 

Once the challenges and objectives are confirmed, the Committee will work on identifying current gaps in knowledge and resources, strategies and metrics to measure progress.

4.      Future Meetings

The next face-to-face meeting of the Committee will be in February, 2010 in Washington, DC.  The Committee plans to again meet jointly with the Social Sciences Subcommittee. 

Actions Requested:  For discussion only.

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 ESCOP Agenda Brief

July 29, 2009

Agenda Item 10.0: Multistate Research Award Funding

Presenter: Eric Young

 Background Information:

 At the March Policy Board of Directors meeting, Colien Hefferan indicated that CSREES would like to provide funds each year to the multistate project that is selected for the Excellence in Multistate Research Award.  These funds could be used to pay travel expenses for two project members to attend the awards ceremony at the APLU Annual Conference in November and to provide support for other project activities; such as meeting expenses, outside speaker, research supplies, technical assistance, etc.

 

Discussions with Dennis Kopp, who coordinates the teaching and extension awards for CSREES, and the ESCOP Chair’s Advisory Committee have resulted in the following proposal for use and management of these award funds.  This proposal has been discussed by each region over the past month and the results of those discussions will be reported.

 

Proposed use and management of the Excellence in Multistate Research Award funds:

·         CSREES would annually set aside $15,000 in Hatch Multistate Research Funds that would be used for the Excellence in Multistate Research Award.

·         Up to $5,000 would be used to cover travel for two members of the recipient project, possible the Administrative Advisor and Chair or their designees, to attend the awards ceremony at the APLU annual conference.

·         The remaining $10,000 award funds will be used to support activities which would enhance and contribute to the research and/or outreach goals of that Multistate project, consistent with the appropriate use of Hatch Funds.  Use of these funds would be a committee decision made in conjunction with its Administrative Advisor.

·         The funds will be allocated to North Carolina State University each year and managed by the SAAESD Executive Director’s office in residence there in order to ensure a consistent process for disbursing the funds.  The SAAESD ED’s office will be directed by the winning project’s Administrative Advisor on the specific use of the funds.

 

Because the $15,000 award funds will come off the top from MRF Hatch, the ESS needs to approve this use, which will normally be done at the September ESS meeting. However, CSREES must allocate these funds this year no later than August 1, therefore approval for use of FY’09 funds was considered during the regional summer meetings.  Approval for this use in FY’10 will be considered at the ESS meeting this September.

 

To put the award funds in perspective, $15,000 is approximately 0.035% of the FY’09 MRF Hatch that's allocated to individual AES's.  This would be an average of $290 per AES, but would vary according to the amount each one actually receives.

 

Action Requested:

 

Based on results from the regional summer meetings, approve or disapprove use of $15,000 MRF Hatch for the Excellence in Multistate Research Award recipient project in FY 2009 and management of these funds as described above.

 

Include this budget item in future ESS meetings’ decisions for use of off-the-top Multistate Research Funds.

 

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ESCOP Agenda Brief

July 29, 2009

 

Agenda Item 11.0 National Plant Germplasm Coordinating Committee

 

Presenters: Lee Sommers/Eric Young

 

The National Plant Germplasm Coordinating Committee (NPGCC) met in Beltsville, MD on June 23-24, 2009 at the USDA/ARS George Washington Carver Center. The meeting attendees were Lee Sommers, Tom Burr, Peter Bretting, P.S. Benepal, Ed Kaleikau, Jerry Arkin, Eric Young, Candice Gardner, Ann Marie Thro, and Joe Colletti.

 

Peter Bretting gave an update from the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) and the Plant Germplasm Operations Committee (PGOC) that included the following points:

·         New USDA/REE Undersecretary has asked for briefing papers in many areas, including one on the germplasm system.  Peter and others have written and submitted this paper which outlines the NPGS strengths and needs.

·         The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) is no longer focused on maintaining plant related microbes, so NPGS has been asked to take this on.  The possibility of doing this within the NPGS is being investigated.

·         The move to GRIN-Global will be fairly slow within the NPGS because current GRIN database is so large and has numerous users.  Other countries will be using the new database system sooner, but the US will eventually transition to it also.

·         Even though the Plant Introduction Stations are all facing budget cuts, it has been determined that they can not depend on user fees for significant support because it would shift priorities.  Appropriate fees for particular services may be able to supplement budgets in the future, but there are no plans currently to implement this.

·         The Plant Introduction Stations continue to receive a large number of requests for seed from private individuals, ~20% of total requests.  If the requestor is not involved in research, they are not eligible for seed, but this can become a public relations issue.  Usually the Station will send a response explaining the policy and reasons for it.  Feedback on this response is generally positive

·         PGOC will be working on a system-wide policy for handeling requests from the general public.  NPGCC will be involved in reviewing and commenting on drafts of this policy as they are developed.

 

The NPGCC met with Dr. Catherine Parks, Division Chief for Plant Protection and Production in the Research, Education, and Extension Office (REEO).  Dr. Parks reported that the REEO Chiefs are working with Undersecretary Shah to identify top priority areas that would help guide activities across all REE agencies.  At the time of our meeting, the tentative priority areas were Human Nutrition & Health, International Food Security, Global Climate Change, Bioenergy, and Ecosystem Services.  The committee discussed with her the fundamental importance of the NPGS in our ability to address the problems and issues in each of these broad areas.  Dr. Parks indicated that it would be useful to have specific examples of how NPGS activities have impacted issues within these areas.  Examples are being solicited from the regional Stations and will be compiled and sent to Dr. Parks.

 

The committee also met with Deborah Sheely, CSREES Deputy Administrator for Competitive Programs, to discuss the new Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).   Dr. Sheely discussed the new 10-year granting authority given to AFRI in the Farm Bill.  This has not yet been implemented, but is being discussed regarding inclusion in future RFA’s.  The committee indicated that this would be very valuable for long-term research like plant breeding and germplasm collection and characterization.

 

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ESCOP Agenda Brief

July 29, 2009

 

Agenda Item 12.0:  2010 Winter ESCOP Meeting

 

Presenter: Eric Young

 

Background Information:

 

The mid-winter ESCOP (or ESCOP Exec) meeting has traditionally been held on a Tuesday afternoon during the AHS/CARET meeting prior to the Hill visits and Exhibit on the Hill which occur on Wednesday.  This past March the AHS/CARET meeting schedule was changed to allow an additional one-half day of time for Hill visits to give more flexibility in scheduling with Congressional members and staff.  This additional Hill visit time conflicted with the ESCOP meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Although the schedule has not been set it is likely that it will be similar in 2010, in addition there will be no Exhibit on the Hill.  The likely AHS/CARET meeting schedule for 2010 is shown below.  Note that the dates have also been moved up one week.

 

Due to these changes, it has been suggested that ESCOP reconsider the timing of its mid-winter meeting to avoid conflict with the Hill visits.

 

Sunday, February 21, 2010

 

8:00 – Noon                            CARET Executive Committee Business Meeting

 

Noon – 1:30 p.m.        CARET Executive Committee Luncheon

 

2:00 – 5:30 p.m.         New Member/New Dean Orientation and Refresher for Others

 

6:00 – 7:30 p.m.         Welcoming Reception

                                   

Monday, February 22, 2010

 

8:45 – 9:00 a.m.         Welcome, Introduction of 2009 CARET Officers, Overview of Program

 

9:00 – 10:15 a.m.       New Perspectives:  Administration

 

10:15 – 10:30 a.m.     Break

 

10:30 – 11:00 a.m.     New Perspectives:  CARET

 

11:00 – Noon              New Perspectives:  Congress

 

Noon – 1:30 p.m.        Lunch 

 

1:30 – 3:00 p.m.         Regional Meetings

 

3:00 – 3:30 p.m.         Break

 

3:30 – 5:45 p.m.         AHS Business Meeting

 

3:30 - 5:45 p.m.          CARET Business Meeting

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

 

8:00 – 9:30 a.m.         Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Priorities of the BAA

 

9:30 – 9:45 a.m.         Break

 

9:45 – Noon                Simultaneous Education Sessions (Breakouts)

                       

Noon – 1:30 p.m.        Lunch             

 

1:30 – 5:30 p.m.         Hill Visits

 

5:30 – 6:00 p.m.         Feedback from Hill Visits

 

6:00 – 7:00 p.m.         Reception and Presentation of Congressional Champions’ Award

 

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.         Dinner

 

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

 

All Day                        Hill Visits

  

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