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____________________________________________
MONTHLY
UPDATE
News for C-FAR Members
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural
Research
May 2009
Greetings from C-FAR. Highlights of the past month include the following.
STORM RESULTS IN SEVERE DAMAGE AT SIUC
The southern portion of our state experienced a very severe storm during the early part of May causing significant damage (the Governor issued a state disaster declaration for three counties, including Jackson – home to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale). The damage on the SIUC campus was extensive, including major damage to the College of Agricultural Sciences’ teaching and research facilities and activities. At SIUC’s farm alone, 23 buildings were damaged or destroyed and research being conducted by the College’s faculty was greatly and negatively affected (including C-FAR-funded research). Facility damages and costs associated with research losses are estimated to be in excess of $1.5 million.
As our friends and colleagues at SIUC continue the damage assessment and begin their re-building efforts, our thoughts are most certainly with them.
FY10 C-FAR APPROPRIATION & STATE BUDGET
As of my writing this, the State of Illinois FY10 budget continues to be deliberated by the Illinois General Assembly and Governor. As we all know, the significant issues are a proposed income tax increase and a multi-billion deficit. The General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment is May 31, and whether they will be able to meet this adjournment date remains unclear. We’ll keep you apprised as we learn more.
FY09 ALLOCATIONS REVISED
As I shared in last month’s update, the FY09 appropriation was authorized for release during late March. The State of Illinois has obligated and vouchered these funds, and we are currently awaiting their receipt. These funds were released with a 4% reserve assessed, which was common across numerous FY09 appropriations. To accommodate this reserve, the Board of Directors have directed the 4% reduction be assessed across all C-FAR allocations (research programs, support programs, etc.)
During the past month, I have worked with the four universities to determine their necessary changes to specific FY09 research allocations. While the External Competitive Grants Program was equally assessed the 4% reserve, funding for FY09 initiatives through this program will not be reduced due to being able to utilize unexpended funds from previous initiatives.
Revised FY09 allocations are currently being summarized, and this information will be reported to the State of Illinois and updated research project allocations will be reflected in our FY09 Research Portfolio.
REMINDER: IL LEGISLATIVE DIRECTORIES AVAILABLE
We have several remaining copies of a 2009-2010 Legislative Directory of the 96th Illinois General Assembly for anyone who could use such a copy. In addition to providing contact and committee information on every member of the State Senate and House of Representatives, the directory also includes contact information on our state’s constitutional officers and agencies, Illinois’ U.S. Congressional delegation, and more. Just let us know if you would like a copy.
ENERGY BIOSCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT
A reminder… we have a few more copies of the 2008 Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) Annual Report left. The EBI, as many of you will recall, is a $500 million initiative by energy company BP launched in 2007. A significant portion of this research is being conducted at UIUC, with other work taking place at the University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. For those who have an interest in a cross-section of energy biosciences, I think you’ll find the report of interest. Let me know, and we can send you a copy.
C-FAR REPS BEING CONFIRMED
This past month, we sent to every Organizational and Affiliate member their respective list of current C-FAR representatives. This communication was sent to the contact person – that individual who receives such administrative-related correspondence for each Organizational and Affiliate member. We encourage communication between the contact person and their representatives to confirm continued interest in serving as a representative to C-FAR. We have asked for this confirmation and/or changes to group’s representatives by June 8 (and our thanks to many organizations who have already responded).
ILLINOIS SMART AGENDA
The Vision for Illinois Agriculture (VIA) project continues to mature and has evolved into focused implementation teams to foster increased viability of Illinois’ food, agricultural, and related sectors. The VIA was launched during the summer of 2007 and C-FAR, along with many other organizations, is a sponsor and is engaged in this unique initiative.
A significant document of the VIA is entitled a SmartAgenda®. VIA leaders have recently issued an article on the status of the SmartAgenda®, which can be viewed on our website at http://www.ilcfar.org/smartagenda_final.pdf. A copy is enclosed for those receiving this update via U.S. mail. Note that one of the eight focal points of the SmartAgenda® is research funding. Any comments or feedback you might have on this document is welcomed. Just let me know and I will share your thoughts with the VIA’s leaders.
As we look ahead to June and beyond, we find...
FY10 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT BEGINS
As we near the end of the current 2009 fiscal year (June 30), attention will be focused on the development of general allocations for the FY10 C-FAR appropriation (once known), and budgets for supporting programs and dues-based membership accounts. Each of the above will be agenda items for the Board of Directors’ July meeting (with dues-based membership account budgets being proposed to Organizational member voting delegates later this summer). FYI… we anticipate FY09 supporting program and dues-based membership accounts being closed within budget.
NEW UIUC NRES HEAD NAMED
Dr. Robert Easter, Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at UIUC, has announced that Dr. Jeff Brawn will become Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), effective August 16, 2009. He will succeed Dr. Bruce Branham, who has served as Interim Head for the past two years.
Dr. Brawn is currently a Professor and Associate Head of the department. Jeff has a distinguished career in various wildlife disciplines (biology, ecology, zoology). We look forward to working with Dr. Brawn in his new leadership role.
The Department of NRES is the College of ACES’ second largest department in terms of it number of faculty. These faculty members have advanced numerous C-FAR research initiatives.
SPECIAL FEATURE
KEY C-FAR RESEARCH OUTCOMES
Annual State of Illinois appropriations for food and agricultural research via C-FAR have resulted in a tremendous number of outcomes benefiting every sector of our state’s food, agriculture, and related sectors. The conveyance of these outcomes to the private sector has been and continues to be a key priority. Brief summaries to formal final reports of these outcomes have been shared extensively.
We are often invited to share a short list of such outcomes. The content of such a list is constantly evolving to reflect the most notable and current successes. We have recently updated such and while it is often of particular interest to State of Illinois leaders, we thought it would also be of interest to you – C-FAR members and colleagues.
Please see www.ilcfar.org/outcomes09.pdf (a copy is enclosed for those receiving this update via U.S. mail). Every example on this list is having a demonstrable impact in Illinois. As we have previously shared, a much longer list of C-FAR research outcomes is available at http://www.ilcfar.org/research/outcomes09.pdf.
As we look to June and move from spring to summer, our very best to you and yours.
Kraig
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Kraig A. Wagenecht, Executive Administrator
Illinois Council on Food & Agricultural Research (C-FAR)
1101 W. Peabody Drive · Urbana, IL 61801
Tel: 217.244.4232 · Fax: 217.244.8594
email: wagenech@illinois.edu
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