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____________________________________________
MONTHLY
UPDATE
News for C-FAR Members
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural
Research
July/August 2008
Summer greetings from C-FAR. Highlights of
the past month include…
FY09 C-FAR APPROPRIATION
As Chairman Kasey has recently shared with you, the FY09
C-FAR appropriation will be enacted at $2.275 million. As
I am sure most of you know, an agreement by State leaders
could not be reached on revenue enhancement measures and
therefore, there were widespread line item vetoes and reductions
to balance the FY09 State of Illinois budget.
What does this mean to C-FAR research? In general, all
available funding will be directed to ongoing research that
was begun within the last 1-3 years. There will, however,
need to be reductions made to some funding for ongoing research,
as the appropriation level is not enough to meet all commitments.
I would not expect any new initiatives being funded, except
for a few through the External Competitive Grants Program.
We are somewhat fortunate in that we do not have any further
Strategic Research Initiative commitments in FY09. The final
year of funding for the last of the SRIs in the current
round of these initiatives was this past year.
BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Your Board of Directors met during early July for a regularly
scheduled meeting. Highlights of their actions include:
- Reviewed membership rolls as of June 30, 2008. These
rolls reflected the following number of members: Organizational
- 56; Affiliate - 36; Individual - 130 (almost identical
numbers to last year at this time). The Board expresses
their sincere gratitude for almost every 2007 Organizational
and Affiliate member's renewal, along with the vast majority
of Individuals members renewing their memberships. Per
C-FAR Board policy, members who have not renewed by July
1 will be removed from the membership rolls pending any
special circumstances that may exist. There are a few
such circumstances, and a few more members will be renewing
in the near future.
- Adoption of an SRI Program being conducted in FY09 (to
seek new initiatives) should the appropriation level be
$4.5 million or higher. This appropriation threshold had
been $5.5 million for an SRI Program being conducted,
but an updated review indicated a $4.5 million appropriation
was ample to meet ongoing research funding needs.
- Approval of a $250 sponsorship of Agriculture Day at
the Illinois State Fair (up from $150, which has been
C-FAR's sponsorship level the past few years).
- Reviewed and accepted statements of expenditures for
the office-based administrative and 1% member expense
accounts; and statements of revenue and expense for the
dues-based legislative and non-legislative accounts. All
of these accounts were within budget.
- Adopted FY09 budgets for the administrative and 1% member
expense accounts, pending the finalization of the FY09
C-FAR appropriation.
- Adopted, for recommendation to Organizational member
voting delegates, FY09 budgets for the legislative and
non-legislative accounts.
- An update, review and discussion on legislative matters
including: (1) the FY08 appropriation's release, (2) the
FY09 appropriation's development, and (3) initial considerations
for the FY10 appropriation's development.
Conducted an executive session for the purpose of the
executive administrator's annual review.
This was a significant meeting and we are grateful to these
Board members - who serve in a volunteer capacity - for
their steadfast and unselfish dedication and service to
our organization.
A BYLAWS REMINDER:
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Regarding the minutes of C-FAR Board of Directors meetings,
per the C-FAR bylaws: "Minutes shall be taken of all
Board of Directors meetings and distributed to the contact
person of each C-FAR Organizational Member or other persons
upon request." I share this only as a reminder for
those who may have an interest in requesting a copy of certain
minutes.
HOT OFF THE PRESS:
NEW C-FAR BROCHURE
A new general C-FAR brochure has just been completed and
is available to you upon request. This new brochure is not
a "nuts and bolts" description of C-FAR. Rather,
it takes a broader view of the importance of research to
our state's food and agricultural industry. Of course, it
does address key characteristics of C-FAR, including a current
list of members.
If you would like a personal copy of the brochure, or copies
for your organization's board or other colleagues, just
let us know and we will be happy to send them to you. We
have these for your benefit.
RESEARCH INITIATIVES
EXTENDED
Due to the FY08 appropriation not being released until about
June 1, the majority of
C-FAR initiatives - those which were due an FY08 allocation
- were suspended at various points during this past year
by their respective university. This was an understandable
and appropriate course of action. The result was an inability
to make intended progress.
Therefore, a decision was made to issue a blanket one-year
extension to each of these initiatives (62 such initiatives).
This action was deemed to serve the interests of all parties,
as the most important consideration is realizing sound outcomes
from these research initiatives.
SURVEYS: FROM STATE
OF ILLINOIS TO U OF I
In a recent monthly update, I shared there was legislation
pending for our state's surveys (Geological Survey, Natural
History Survey, Water Survey, and Waste Management and Research
Center) being transferred from the auspices of the State
of Illinois (Illinois Department of Natural Resources) to
the University of Illinois. This transfer, proposed by the
Governor in his February Budget Address, was seemingly endorsed
by all entities involved.
On June 30, the Governor signed legislation making this
transfer official, effective July 1. University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor, Dr. Richard Herman, stated
"The synergies made possible by joining the surveys
with the university will benefit the people of Illinois
by bringing together scientists who will address real-world
problems for the people of the state of Illinois."
These entities will now be organized as a new unit on the
UIUC campus - the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability.
To accommodate this transfer, the U of I will receive additional
state funding for the accompanying change of personnel and
operations.
In addition, the Illinois Waste Management and Research
Center has been renamed the Illinois Sustainable Technology
Center. These surveys, most of which are C-FAR members,
have been integral C-FAR research partners. We look forward
to continuing to work with them under this new arrangement.
A LOOK AHEAD…
As we look ahead to the month of August, while a light meeting
schedule is anticipated, we may proceed with a meeting of
one or more of our committees, as they have matters before
them. In addition, we expect the following:
FY09 RESEARCH PROGRAM
CONSIDERATIONS
There are two general sets of considerations as follows:
University's Internal programs - each of the four
universities will consider how to balance their ongoing
research funding needs with their respective available funding.
External Competitive Grants Program - from the research
proposal priorities established this past March by our working
groups, we will be considering new initiatives we can fund.
BOARD TO RE-CONSIDER
FY09 ALLOCATIONS
Due to the level of the enacted FY09 C-FAR appropriation,
I anticipate the Board of Directors needing to convene for
a special meeting to re-consider a few matters. In general,
I foresee their considerations including FY09 program allocations
and budgets for the administrative office and 1% member
expense accounts.
BEST
WISHES DR. RUSSIN
Dr. John Russin, Associate Dean for Research and Personnel
for SIUC's College of Agricultural Sciences, will be assuming
a new position at Louisiana State University during the
latter part of August. John has been named LSU's new Associate
Vice Chancellor, Louisiana State University Agricultural
Center, and Associate Director, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment
Station.
John came to SIUC in 1998 as an associate professor. He
moved to being a department chair in the college in 2001
and in 2004 was named to his current associate deanship.
Since being in these SIUC leadership positions, John has
been a stalwart university partner. He has attended practically
every C-FAR meeting, including meetings of the Board of
Directors. His common sense and insightful research perspectives
have served C-FAR well beyond what I can share here.
This is clearly a case of Illinois' loss being Louisiana's
gain. We've been very fortunate, and we are deeply grateful
John, for your commitment and support of C-FAR. On behalf
of the C-FAR family, we wish you the very best at LSU!
C-FAR DAY AT WIU
This year's C-FAR Day will be held at Western Illinois University
in Macomb (this unique event rotates among our four university
partners). If you are new to C-FAR, C-FAR Day is an event
that allows you - C-FAR members - the opportunity to hear
about C-FAR-funded research firsthand and directly engage
with the researchers carrying out this research. Mark your
calendar please, as this event has been scheduled for Tuesday,
November 11.
BIOFUELS AND
SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE
At the University of Illinois, the newly formed Institute
of Natural Resource Sustainability in cooperation with the
College of ACES Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research will
host a two-day "Biofuels and Sustainability Conference"
on October 21 and 22. The conference will be held at the
new I-Hotel and Conference Center on the UIUC campus (located
immediately south of the Assembly Hall).
While registration information will be available beginning
August 25, considerable information is already posted at
the following website: http://www.wmrc.uiuc.edu/BiofuelsConference/
If you do not have access to the Web, please let me know
and we'll be happy to send you the details on this conference
(and the following events).
OTHER UPCOMING
EVENTS
- Agriculture Day at the Illinois State Fair -
August 12. A long-standing celebration of our state's
number one industry. Complete 2008 Illinois State Fair
information is available at http://www.agr.state.il.us/isf/
Please note: with C-FAR being a sponsor of Agriculture
Day, I have a few extra tickets which provide you entrance
onto the State Fairgrounds and to the 1:00 p.m. luncheon
on the Director's lawn (does not include parking). If
you would like to attend, just let me know ASAP.
-
Agronomy Day at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- August 21, 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. This year's Agronomy Day
theme is "Energizing Agriculture" and a special
noon program will feature biofuels issues. For complete
information, see http://agronomyday.cropsci.uiuc.edu/,
or contact Sharon Conatser at 217.333.4256 or sconatse@illinois.edu.
Pre-registration is not required and the event is open
and free to the public.
- Salute to Agriculture Day at Fighting Illini vs.
Ohio State Football game - November 15 in Champaign-Urbana.
Time and additional details to be announced.
All our best to you and yours in enjoying the final weeks
of this summer season.
Kraig
_______________________________________________________
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
e-mail: wagenech@illinois.edu
GO
CUBS GO!
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