RRCReportJune2001

Northeast Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (NERA)
Report and Recommendations of the Regional Research Committee (RRC)

June 24, 2001 Chair, Bob Seem

Request to Approve the NE-1005 proposal entitled: Management of Wildlife Damage in Suburban and Rural Landscapes. October 2001 to September 2006. Submitted by Dan Decker (NYC).
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/userforms/nera/showInfo.cfm?type=NE&number=1005
Peer review was completed and a cover letter by Paul Curtis explaining the Technical Commitee's responses to the reviews was submitted. This project has been evolving for several years (NEC-101) and the Committee recognizes the project's timeliness and importance to the Northeast. Some concerns were raised about clarity of deliverables and how the project might deal with negative public perspectives of wildlife management. Also, it was not clear if critical state agencies were among the external linkages. The Committee recommends approval of NE-1005 with a stipulation that the above concerns are addressed.

Request to Approve the NE-1006 proposal entitled: Eradication, Containment and/or Management of Plum Pox (Sharka) Disease. October 2001 to September 2006. Submitted by Paul Backman (PA) and John Halbrendt (PA).
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/userforms/nera/showInfo.cfm?type=NE&number=1006
Peer review was completed.
The Committee recommends approval of the proposal, but discussed extensively the results and impacts that the project would have in five years. Five years may not be enough to achieve its objectives. RRC will consider recommending approval for seven years, if this could be justified. Emphasis should be given to genetics, i.e., development of transgenic resistance to plum pox. If the objectives are completed earlier, the project may be reviewed and re-formatted to a NEC if appropriate at that stage.

Request to Approve the NEC-1002 proposal entitled: Northeast Pasture Research and Extension Consortium. October 2001 to September 2006. Submitted by Paul Backman (PA) and Charles Krueger (PA).
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/userforms/nera/showInfo.cfm?type=NEC&number=1002
Peer review was completed and the Technical Commitee's responses to the reviewers' comments are available. Should this be converted to a NEREC?
The Committee recommends approval of NEC-1002 and suggests converting it to a NEREC when the mechanism to establish a NEREC is finalized. The extensive participation from Extension and the stakeholders: farmers and producers on this project was noted. However, a better way of reporting internal and external participants should be looked into in the paperless system. A suggestion was made to have separate forms for principal research and extension participants, and those outside the LGU system. Because the NEC project statement meets the 12 criteria (including peer review) for accountability, directors may choose to expend additional FFF beyond travel.

Request to Approve the NEC-1003 (a.k.a. NEC-63) proposal entitled: Research Committee on Commodity Promotion. October 2001 to September 2006. Submitted by Dan Rossi (NJ) and H. W. Kinnucan (AL).
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/userforms/nera/showInfo.cfm?type=NEC&number=1003
The Committee recommends approval of NEC-1003 (a.ka. NEC-63), and suggests that it may be worthwhile having an Extension director as a Co-Advisor. The Committee would like to see additional attention to and participation coming from commodity groups in the Northeast particularly for eggs, poultry, grape, dairy and hardwood.

Request to Approve the extension of NEA-1: Animal Science. October 2001 to September 2006. Submitted by Kirklyn Kerr (CTS).
The Committee recognized the importance of NEA-01 and its benefit to the association. There was consensus that department chairs in the Northeast should be organized for other fields, such as crop, natural resources, food safety and nutrition, and the socio-economics. The Committee's recommendation is to set up 5 to 6 new committees under NERA for department heads in specific fields. This structure will allow the committees to be in existence for as long as they are useful to the association. These committees could provide a pool of peer reviewers for multistate projects. If approved by the association, the NERA By-laws need to be changed to reflect this. NEA-01 is good until September 2002. This will give them time to transition to the new structure if RRC's recommendation is accepted. A separate motion is presented for NERA's consideration: Moved that NERA requests the ED to draft modification to the NERA By-laws to establish and empower disciplinary committees made up of NE department chairs.

Request to write a proposal entitled: Rural Communities, Rural Labor Markets and Public Policy in a Global Economy. October 2002 to September 2007. Submitted by Dan Rossi (NJ) and,

Request to write a proposal entitled: Commodities, Consumers, and Communities: Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment. October 2002 to September 2007. Submitted by W. Ronnie Coffman (NYC).

Other business:
- Administrative Advisor assignment recommended by RRC (some of these assignments may be pending concurrence by the cited director):
  - William E. Vinson (WV) for NE-127, "Biophysical Models for Poultry Production Systems."
  - William E. Berndtson (NH) for NE-161, "Association of Fertility with Temporal Changes in Ovarian Functions of Domestic Ruminants", and NEC-1002, "Northeast Pasture Research and Extension Consortium."
  - Jeff Seemann (RI) for NE-187, "Best Management Practices for Turf Systems in the East."
  - David MacKenzie will be the interim advisor for NE-501 and NE-1006, "Eradication, Containment and/or Management of Plum Pox (Sharka) Disease."
  - Daniel Decker (NYC) for NE-1005, "Management of Wildlife Damage in Suburban and Rural Landscapes."
  - Daniel Rossi (NJ) for NEC-1003, "Research Committee on Commodity Promotion."
  - An institutional liaison director from Penn State on the board of the NE Rural Development Center will be assigned by Dean Steele (PA) on either an interim or permanent basis .
  - Dan Rossi for the proposal entitled: Rural Communities, Rural Labor Markets and Public Policy in a Global Economy.
  - W. Ronnie Coffman for the proposal entitled: Commodities, Consumers, and Communities: Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment.
  - Dan Rossi (NJ) will be the institutional representative to NRSP-4 (IR-4).
  - Adesoji Adelaja (NJ) will replace Dan Rossi as NERA representative on the board of the NE Rural Development Center.
- Report on status of NE-502: Prospects for Consumer Acceptance of Agricultural Biotechnologies
  D. MacKenzie reported that this project has not been approved by CSREES. Advisor R. Johnson is handling the case with G. Cooper. Chair R. Seem will consult with R. Johnson. [Following discussion with Dr. Johnson, RRC will defer any action unless requested by Dr. Johnson and NE-502.]
- NEC-100 and NEC-101 termination
  Both NECs are now terminated and this will be reflected on the record.
- Report on the NRSP off-the-top funding for FY2002
  Recommendations from all the regions had been submitted to CSREES. The levels include the 0.22 across the board rescission on the FY01 level. A survey of opinions among the station directors is the preferred method of evaluation compared to an external review of the NRSPs portfolio. This decision was made at the ESCOP Executive Committee meeting in Denver in May. A suggestion was made to have two levels of survey, a short and long version. The 53-question survey drafted by D. MacKenzie will be modified. An e-mail or online web form would be the preferred format. Another suggestion was to announce the survey at the ESS workshop in Couer d'Alene and send it soon after so the directors know what they are responding to and how important the activity is. This should result to an increased participation in the survey.
- Report on the Analysis of SYs by the Social Science Research Center
  A NRSP on the Social Science Research originating from the Southern region will be forthcoming. D. MacKenzie believes there is merit in this activity and the results gathered and analyzed would be very beneficial in driving the management as well as directions that Multistate research should take.
- Discussion on "Regional" to "Multistate" proposal
  To better reflect the "multistate" nature of our current and future activities it is time the association reviews its use of the term "regional" in its official documentation, i.e. By-Laws. A set of recommendations on where the word "Multistate" will be appropriate will be put forward for consideration at the association's meeting. RRC specifically recommends changing its name to MAC- Multistate Activities Committee. The composition of the committee will also be expanded to include two (2) Extension Directors. Three names were put forward as possible candidates. Chair Coffman will be requested to approach these directors.
- Discussion on the proposed NE Regional Support Project (NeRSP) as a new project category.
  Projects with no specific achievable objectives, such as NE-09 (plant genome conservation), should fall under a separate category. Some examples for additional RSPs are:
  - Impact assessment reporting
  - Stakeholder listening activities
  - Risk management activities
  - Research farm managers meeting useful for sharing practices and methods
  - Addressing public concerns for GMOs
  This category of projects is another way of engaging our Extension partners, and is suggested to be organized like a NRSP without the multiple Admin. Advisors. It can be funded the same way as NE projects, by participating stations or by grants or contracts.
- Update on the Northeast Paperless System and the National Information Management Support System (NIMSS)
  R. Mize gave a brief report on the first conference call of the 18-member NIMSS Oversight Committee. The online demonstration was well received but there were policy issues that came up. These will be discussed at the NERA meeting and the feedback gathered will be reported back to the oversight committee. These issues include the use of project vs. activity, composition of Appendix E and the calculation of Extension participation, the access provided to the various users, additional explanation for reviewers, better definitions of internal and external linkages and other items that will entail modifying the multistate guidelines. Chair Seem suggested adding a web form that will be used for entering responses of the Technical Committee to peer reviews and having an online summary also generated. R. Mize and N. Moy will consider this suggestion. A demonstration of the new national version of the paperless system will be presented by Natalie Moy on Tuesday.
- ScienceWise Alert for Research and Education Opportunities
  It was suggested that a webpage be developed similar to the one used by SUNEI. E-mail messages will then be sent on the availability of the current information the NERA webpage. RRC expressed support for this activity.
- Multiple Activity Program (MAP)
  This is a new set of multistate projects being proposed by the EDs to serve as shells for funding, while addressing priorities in the regions. This will provide the structure for multistate activities that can be tracked and receive funds using the authority for multistate research. We will then be ready when an increase in the formula fund occurs. The proposal was presented to C. Hefferan, but D. MacKenzie will meet again with her on Thursday. Copies of the MAPs were requested for distribution to the NERA members. This will also be discussed at the association's meeting.
Chair Seem thanked the RRC members for their hard work and adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.