ESCOP

Meeting Minutes

Monday, February 22, 2010

8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Key Bridge Marriott Hotel
Arlington, VA

Participants

Jerry Arkin, GA

Frank Voteler, NIFA

Carolyn Brooks, ARD

Nancy Cox, KY

Sarah Greening, MN

Mike Harrington, WAAESD

Arlen Leholm, NCRA

Mark McLellan, FL

Orlando McMeans, WV

Ron Pardini, NV

Steve Pueppke, MI

Bill Ravlin, OH

Dina Chacon-Reitzel, CARET

Dan Rossi, NERA

Steve slack, OH

Mike Vayda, VT

Clarence Watson, OK

Eric Young, SAAESD

Guests:

Mark Bowen, Excellence through Stewardship

John Scofield, Podesta

Hunt Shipman, Cornerstone

Action Items

Agenda Item	Actions Taken
1.0	Approved: Agenda - Bill Ravlin/Mark McLellan Approved: Minutes – Bill Ravlin/Mark McLellan
4.0	Approved:ESCOP will support maintaining the 406 lines at their'10 level in FY'11 budget - Mike Vayda/Steve Pueppke Approved: Friendley Amendmentto include support of BAC recommendations on capacity and AFRI increases - Mark McLellan/Jerry Arkin
6.0	Approved: Reactivate the ESCOP Communication & Marketing Committee, include 3 Administrative Heads, 1 ECOP representative (chosen by ESCOP), and Ian Maw to represent APLU - Jerry Arkin/Mark McLellan Approved: mission of Communication& Marketing Committee should reflect a system wide marketing effort - Jerry Arkin/Mark McLellan
8.0	Approved: To pay $1,000 for ESCOP membership in NC-FAR for 2010 and to choose a ESCOP representative for their board - Steve Pueppke/Ron Pardini Approved: Nancy Cox as ESCOP representative to NC-FAR

Minutes and Agenda Briefs

1.0	Welcome and Introductions Approval of November 16 ESCOP Meeting Minutes, Agenda, and Interim Actions - Clarence Watson Approval of meeting agenda - Bill Ravlin/Mark McLellan Approval of meeting minutes – Bill Ravlin/Mark McLellan
2.0	Excellence Through Stewardship plant biotech organization - Mark Bowen, Program Manager Presentation Statements Fact sheet Started by Food and Ag Section of Biotech Industries Organization 2 years ago Leads voluntary audit program for bio tech industry quality management Also covers R&D activities, not just production Started by: Arbogen, BASF Bayer, Dow Agrosci, DuPont, Monsanto, Syngenta, Targeted Growth, StemBio System Genetics, Ceres, and BIO Also produce educational materials for public Objective is to have members comply with regulations and maintain quality control Value to expand membership to academic institutions Association membership is $6,000, academic institution membership fee is TBD
3.0	NIFA Update - Frank Boteler Financial computing system for USDA is changing in near future which may disrupt some interactions with agency for short time AFRI RFA expected late March Grants will be longer and larger, >$1 Million Five RFAs in science priority areas New Biology for 21st Century published by the National Academy of Sciences is being useds as a guide for many decisions on funding priorities 6^th RFA for NIFA Fellows 7^th RFA for all other areas of science that don’t fall under 5 priority areas Application time frame will be extened to late in this fiscal year Environmental concerns will be addresses under sustainability aspects of RFAs Some animal issues are in each of 5 RFA and others in 7th one Each of 5 RFAs have a category for individual investigator grants plus the 7th one Currently reviewing the grant review panel process, may be changes in future years REEO's are on hold, trying to figure out how to mesh them into new structure Roadmap is still in review internally No attention is being given to local needs and priorities, only national level with some regional focus Orginal LGU/USDA partnership was based on addressing local needs Large AFRI increase all comes from earmarks and 406 lines
4.0	Budget & Legislative Committee - Mike Vayda/Mike Harrington BAC 2011 Budget Request BAC met with Beachy and discussed President's budget BAC decisions on priority lines are now approved by Policy Board of Directors and this year the PBD reduced the number of high priority lines to seven Motion - ESCOP will support maintaining the 406 lines at their FY'10 level in FY'11 budget - Mike Vayda/Steve Pueppke, Approved Friendly Amendment - include support of BAC recommendations on capacity and AFRI increases - Mark McLellan/Jerry Arkin, Approved
5.0	Cornerstone Advocacy Update -Hunt Shipman 406 lines will be topic of discussion with state's delegations during Hill visits With flat agriculture budget and flat NIFA budget, we'll have to compete with other parts of USDA for increases Political climate is such that Congressional earmarks will almost certainly be done as usual
	Break
6.0	Communication & Marketing - John Scofield/Arlen Leholm Evaluating our Marketing Efforts System Committee met and discussed future of marketing effort Recommendations for continuing effort Placement of articles in key publications Targeted press opportunities with Congressional members Stop electronic newsletter Involve other key stakeholders like commodity and industry groups Motion from committee - reactivate the ESCOP Communication & Marketing Committee, include 3 Administrative Heads, 1 ECOP representative, (chosen by ESCOP), and Ian Maw to represent APLU - Jerry Arkin/Mark McLellan, Approved Motion - Mission of Communication & Marketing Committee should reflect a system wide effort - Jerry Arkin/Mark McLellan
7.0	Science & Technology Committee - Bill Ravlin/Dan Rossi Multistate research award call for nominations went out in December Science Roadmap re-write is progessing, writing groups for challenge areas have been formed Science & Technology is trying to have more interaction with Social Science subcommittee
8.0	NC-FAR, Vote on 2010 ESCOP Dues Payment - Clarence Watson ESCOP dues are $1,000 for 2010 Some of what they do duplicates Cornerstone, but also have some unique roles Advocate by our stakeholder groups, not by Land Grant Universities Members are mostly commodity groups and policy groups Do "lunch and learn" sessions with staffers on hill Were able to meet with Shah and advocate for Land Grant Universities Added a lot of new members recently If ESCOP joins someone can be representative to their Board Motion – approve $1,000 for ESCOP membership in NC-FAR for 2010 and choose an ESCOP representative for their board –– Steve Pueppke/Ron Pardini, Approved Nancy Cox will be representativeto NC-FAR
9.0	2010 ESS Meeting & SAES/ARD Workshop - Orlando McMeans/Carolyn Brooks September 27-30 in Nashville Room rate will be $169
10.0	Next ESCOP Meeting / Other business - Clarence Watson
	Adjourn
	Written Reports Only ARD- Orlando McMeans