Approved Minutes of the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education
State Board of Agricultural Research and Education
Minutes – June 29, 2004
The State Board of
Agricultural Research and Education met in the Bach Room at the Ramada Plaza
Suites in
Chair Tom Archbold called the
meeting to order and introduced Dr. Kenneth Martin, candidate for the position
of director of the NDSU Extension Service.
Martin talked about his background and relevant experience and offered
to respond to questions.
The minutes of the May 25
SBARE meeting were approved as distributed.
Patricia Jensen reported on
the following:
1)
Jensen recently traveled
to
2)
The biosurveillance
initiative continues to grow.
3)
There have been meetings
with USDA to discuss possibilities for a new food safety building and campus
greenhouses.
Neal Fisher told SBARE that
he recently attended a meeting in
Before discussions began on
long-range/strategic planning, Jensen stressed the importance of understanding
the missions of NDSU, as well as the
Duane Hauck, interim director
of the NDSU Extension Service, and Ken Grafton, director of the North Dakota
Agricultural Experiment Station, presented their reports on purpose, mission,
and future plans for Extension and Experiment Station. (Copies of the presentations are
available on request.)
Following the presentations,
Archbold asked for comments or questions and Jerry Effertz stressed the importance
of sustaining agriculture in
Hauck stated that Extension
is trying to accommodate and focus on community vitality and rural leadership,
but said maybe more needs to be done.
Maynard Helgaas agreed with
Effertz and said that
Effertz asked how to convince
county commissioners, commodity groups, and others of the need to change focus
and address community needs.
Keith Bjerke stated that NDSU
is doing a poor job of telling about the good things happening. He said there is a campaign plan being
unveiled at NDSU this fall to better tell the story around the state, country
and world. He emphasized that many
great things are going on at NDSU and he said many people don’t know
about the successes. He added that
there is a need to sell
Carol Goodman suggested there
are many signs that things are changing across the state – economic
development programs are working and turning out opportunities, with developers
responding. She added that the
challenge is to change people’s thinking. She stressed the need to save mid-level
communities and noted that partnerships with larger communities are
critical.
Chairman Archbold told board
members his thought was that these issues did not fit in the duties of SBARE as
stated in the legislative language.
Burdell Johnson suggested the
NDSU campaign include NDSU as a land-grant institution and the importance of
agriculture.
Maynard Helgaas made a motion
that SBARE request the Agricultural Products Utilization Commission continue to
support new and emerging markets for value-added and high-value crops in
Archbold expressed concern
with the motion, asking what happens if other areas/constituents request the
same type of support.
Tom Borgen responded that
each request could be evaluated for merit.
Jeff Weisfpenning
participates with APUC and indicated that support letters are helpful as
funding decisions are considered by the board.
The motion passed with Tom
Archbold, Neal Fisher and Burdell Johnson opposed.
Jerry Effertz made a motion
to commend research and extension on efforts to provide strategic plans. Maynard Helgaas seconded the motion.
Jeff Weisfpenning noted that
the Department of Agriculture absolutely works very closely and is very
supportive of the agriculture (research and extension) efforts at NDSU.
Burdell Johnson agreed the
presentations were commendable, but said he did not necessarily endorse the
entire plans.
Ken Grafton reminded everyone
that the plan that he presented is a work-in-progress and he welcomes comments
and suggestions. He added that he
hopes SBARE will take the two plans presented and work on a strategy for the
future.
Duane Hauck said the next
step should be to develop a succinct written statement that articulates the
direction of
Following the discussion, the
motion to commend the work passed.
Prior to adjournment at 12:15
p.m., it was noted that Ed Goerger and Neal Fisher will attend the Ag Coalition
meeting July 22.
Recorded by Margaret Olson
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