The meeting of the AAEA executive board convened at 8:30 am in the 4th floor conference room of the USDA/ERS building in Washington, DC. President Walter Armbruster welcomed everyone to Washington.

1. Armbruster reviewed the agenda and asked for any changes or additions
   
   

   MOTION: Christy moved approval of the agenda. Buccola seconded. Motion carried.
   
   
2. Armbruster reported for the ad-hoc committee on sections. The Board discussed the decision to provide sections as a way of dealing with diversity within the membership and to encourage non-members.
   
   

MOTION: Parliament moved and Pinstrup-Andersen seconded that the board proceed with the advisory referendum in conjunction with the officer ballot in April. Motion Passed.

MOTION: Parliament moved that the advisory referendum as approved in the former motion be put forward as an amendment to the constitution. Seconded by Shumway. Motion Failed.

The board agreed that the wording of the referendum would be:

"Do you favor the board changing the AAEA bylaws to allow sections?"

The board further agreed that the material accompanying the ballot will be listed as an advisory referendum to the board. It will also explain that groups like CWAE, COSBAE, etc. will be grandfathered in if the referendum is supported by the membership . The decision was made to continue to have the model section bylaws available to members via the web/executive secretary.

There was no sentiment for change when the board discussed changing the minimum size (50 members) for sections.

Due to an unexpected early departure of President Armbruster, President elect Richard Shumway served as chair for the remainder of board meeting.

The minutes of November 7-8, 1997 Board meeting, and the December 9, 1997 Board conference call were approved as printed.

Shumway directed the board's attention to several informational items in the board book. They included the following.

1. A letter of appreciation from John Lee on the outstanding services of the AAEA Meeting Manager, Nancy Knight.
2. A letter from A. Gene Nelson regarding the AAEA Fellows.
3. A letter from Neil Harl on constitutional issues.
4. A copy of a response from Armbruster to a letter from Jeffrey LaFrance. Armbruster will ask LaFrance if he wishes to withdraw his proposed motion. Armbruster will report back to the board as its August meeting.
5. An update from Shumway on the progress of the Principal Paper sessions.
6. A communication from Lyle Schertz regarding plans the Fellows Forum in Salt Lake City.
7. A summary of the pre/post conferences scheduled for Salt Lake City.
8. A progress report on the status of selected papers abstracts from AgEcon Search.

The board discussed the options for a 2002 Annual Meeting site.

MOTION: Skees moved to select the Anaheim Hilton for the site of the 2002 annual meeting. Ralph Christy seconded.

Offutt moved to amend the original motion to include Long Beach as a second choice. Christy seconded the amendment. The amendment passed. The original motion failed.


MOTION: Buccola moved to have Herselius negotiate further on Long Beach and Anaheim in order to get a the best and final offer, and report back in an April conference call. J B Penn seconded. Motion carried.

Parliament reported for the ad-hoc committee on the RAE editorship search. There will be several applicants and the committee expects to have a recommendation for the April conference call. If the board feels there is need for an personal interviews of the candidates, it will be discussed further at the April conference call.

The board reviewed reports from Armbruster growing out of meetings at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association and the National Association of Agricultural Economics Administrators Meeting. His purpose in meeting with the groups was to discuss the AAEA strategic planning efforts. There were several recommendations growing out of those discussions. The board took no action.

Penn reported on C-FARE activities, noting that 44 department had made contributions to C-FARE in 1997. A new document based on the 1997 C-FARE symposium "Keys to Agricultural Growth" will be distributed soon. The 1998 symposium on "Partnering" is scheduled in Washington in May. C-FARE is currently trying to raise funds to create an AAEA/Washington fellowship program. Penn announced that Tracy Irwin Hewitt was promoted to Executive Director for C-FARE.

Shumway proposed a set of criteria for judging Principal and Invited Paper Proposals.

MOTION: Skees moved to draft the seven criteria into the call for proposals by rewriting the criteria as positive statements. Furthermore, those criteria will then be used for evaluating the proposals. Buccola seconded. Motion carried.

Shumway proposed the following statement as a Co-sponsorship Policy for Principal and Invited Paper Sessions.

"The AAEA will co-sponsor sessions upon request with co-hosts or co-sponsors of the annual AAEA and ASSA meetings. For the co-sponsored session papers to be published by the AAEA, the session must be selected from among all session proposals using the same criteria as for sessions that are not co-sponsored."

MOTION: Parliament moved to adopt the proposal. Penn seconded. Motion carried.

Shumway reported for the committee to review the proposed policy on publishing all principal/invited papers and abstracts in the proceedings issue of the AJAE. The ad hoc committee recommended publishing principal/invited papers, their discussion, abstracts of selected papers, posters, and symposia presented at the summer and winter meetings in the RAE rather than the AJAE. The recommendation would require adding a third issue annually to the RAE and dropping one issue from the AJAE. They also recommended separate sections in the RAE for the annual meeting papers and that they be handled by a separate editor and editorial council. All papers would be peer reviewed. The suggestion was made to also post the papers to AgEcon Search.

MOTION: Offutt moved that, effective with the August, 1998 issue of the AJAE, the editors adopt a procedure which clearly identifies non-refereed papers, i.e., those which have been peer reviewed. Parliament seconded. Motion carried.

Shumway distributed a "Call for Proposals: Invited paper Sessions, Winter (ASSA) Meeting" for the board's review, comments, and suggestions.

Buse presented the Business Office recommendations to get the AJAE back on schedule with the August 1998 issue. He noted that at the last board meeting, funds were allocated to out source the November and December, 1997, issues. In order to assure that the AJAE is back on schedule by August, 1998, the Business Office would also have to out source either the May or August, 1998, issue adding $12,000 to the 1998 budget.

MOTION: Buccola moved to eliminate the AJAE backlog by August 1998 by authorizing the business office to out source either the May 1998 or August 1998 issue of AJAE and add $12,000 to the 1998 AJAE budget. Penn seconded. Motion carried.

Buse updated the Board on posters and poster awards at the Annual Meeting. Buse noted that, at a past board meeting it had been decided to offer three poster awards, $500, $300, and $200, with judging to be done by the poster selection committee. However, no funds had been allocated for the awards.

MOTION: Skees moved to add funds to the 1998 business office budget to provide awards for posters in the amounts of $500, $300, and $200. Parliament seconded. Motion carried.

A report from Julie Caswell, Chair of the Awards Committee, was discussed. The committee recommended upgrading the appearance of the AAEA awards to either framed certificates or a plaque. They also recommended inclusion of a physical award for those receiving honorable mention. In addition, the committee made recommendations as to the actual awards ceremony by suggesting improvements in the presentations and other logistic changes.

MOTION: Skees moved to upgrade the recognition given with an award in the spirit of this committee report by adding up to $2000 to the award budget. Christy seconded. Motion carried.

Shumway raised the question of the role of AAEA as an organization in nominating agricultural economists for recognition and awards such as to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Julius Shiskin Award, etc. Board discussion noted that C-FARE originally was to be the source of information and take the lead on such awards .

MOTION: Penn moved that the president appoint an ad hoc committee to explore this issue. Buccola seconded. Motion carried.

Shumway introduce the ad-hoc Outreach Committee Report. The Committee was appointed to develop recommendations focused on serving segments of the agricultural economics profession not currently served by AAEAA activities.

MOTION: Buccola moved, Christy seconded, that this report be tabled and brought back at the Salt Lake City Board meeting. Motion carried.

The board adjourned to go into executive session to consider the position of executive director.

Buse discussed the new AAEA Employee Handbook as prepared by the employment consultant. It was noted that all AAEA employees will be hired as exempt employees. There was discussion among the board members regarding the section on leave. Buse reported that paid leave would be a combination of vacation and sick leave with minimum 1-day increments.

MOTION: Skees moved to approved the Employee Handbook as written. Penn seconded. Motion carried.

The board reviewed a letter from Paul Wilson, chair of the Resident Instruction Committee, noting that Models for Teaching Excellence sessions were created as a new type of annual meeting session. The committee requested that MTE be added to the session types as a code to highlight the teaching/learning thread in the annual meeting program.

MOTION: Parliament moved to include the MTE sessions in the 1999 general call for papers with proposals sent to the Resident Instruction and Extension Committees for selection. The two committees are to establish MTE submission guidelines for approval by the board at the summer meeting. Christy seconded. Motion failed.

MOTION: Buccola moved to include the MTE sessions with an OS/MTE designation, include the MTE sessions in the general call for papers with the call and selection to be the responsibility of the Resident Instruction and Extension Committee. Submission guidelines are to be developed by the two committees for approval by the board at the summer meeting. Christy seconded. Motion carried.

Buse reported on the final income and expenditures for 1997. On a cash basis the AAEA did better than budget projections. The Association showed a net cash deficit of $3,763 (cash expenses over cash income) in contrast to a budgeted deficit of $108,700. The $87,000 of income from the 6% spending rule substantially helps the bottom line.

Cash flow performance was better than expected because the annual meeting and Newsletter employment advertisements generated more income than projected. The cash deficit in the Business Office, due to decreased dues income, offset some of that gain. Business Office expenses were below budget but not enough to offset a bigger than anticipated $45,000 decline in membership dues and fees.

He also noted that the year end surplus in AJAE operations does not include the costs of the 1997 August and November issues. Those issues will be printed in early 1998 and will appear in 1998 accounts. If those two issues were included in the 1997 accounts the AJAE would have added about $26,000 to the bottom line deficit.

Buse next reported on the performance of the AAEA portfolio during 1997. The gain (realized and unrealized) for 1997 was 20.3 %. The market average for all stock funds was 24.4% and for all bond funds 8.7%. Weighting those returns by AAEA stock and bond proportions yields 14.9%. Thus, AAEA investments did better than the average of all mutual funds by about 5%.

Penn reported for the ad-hoc committee studying AAEA investment policy. The key question the committee is considering is employing an outside financial advisor. Penn shared with the board the preliminary report by Gary Seevers, AAEA Foundation President and a member of the committee. The committee hopes to make a recommendation to the board during the April conference call.

Susan Offutt, chair of the finance committee, presented a table showing the potential income gain from a $15 increase in membership fees for a regular member subscribing to the AJAE (from $75 to $90) and corresponding increases for all other membership categories. The table will be presented to the membership at the summer business meeting for their approval.

MOTION: Pinstrup-Andersen moved to recommend the proposed fee table to the membership with the proviso that all fees be rounded up to the next $5 or $10. Buccola seconded. Motion carried.

Offutt lead a discussion on possible sources of increased AAEA revenues. Three of those revenue sources involved unbundling AJAE, RAE, and CHOICES. After discussion, the board instructed the finance committee to return at the Salt Lake City board meeting with detailed economic costs and benefits of unbundling the three publications. There was also a discussion as to a strategy to market CHOICES.

MOTION: Offutt moved acceptance of the following fee increases:

1. Charge each association, for which AAEA collects membership/subscription fees, a $50 setup charge plus $1 per member/subscription processed.
2. All authors of AJAE journal articles must be AAEA members or they will be charged a $50/article/non-member processing fee.
3. All manuscripts accepted for publication in AJAE must be submitted in machine readable format in MS WORD. Submitting in any other format must be accompanied by a $150 processing fee.
4. Members renewing or reinstating a membership after February 1 will be charged a $25 reinstatement fee to cover the extra handling and processing costs. Those not renewing before June 1 will be charged a $50 reinstatement fee.

1. Skees seconded. The motion was tabled until the next morning.
   
   

The meeting was adjourned until 8:30 am Saturday, February 21st.

The meeting reconvened at 8:30 am Saturday. The Offutt motion of the previous afternoon was taken off the table. Stefanou expressed concern with the recommendations of the previous day.

MOTION: Offutt moved to remove item b from the previous motion. Pinstrup-Andersen seconded. Motion carried.

MOTION: Offutt moved to remove item c from the previous motion. Parliament seconded. Motion failed.

MOTION: Skees moved to table the entire package of items until the Salt Lake meeting. Offutt seconded. Motion carried.

The board instructed Stefanou and Offutt to work with the editorial council to study items (b) and (c) of the original motion and come back to the board at the Salt Lake City meeting with a complete and integrated set of recommendations.


The board returned to considering the establishment of sections. The discussion centered on the proposed AAEA bylaws for sections. There was agreement that the draft bylaws may have been premature and created confusion. The consensus was that it may be more appropriate to label them as "principles, or suggested operational procedures" to be translated into the bylaws if the concept of sections is approved by the members in the advisory referendum. Several board members suggested wording changes to the document that the board accepted without dissent as editorial changes.

MOTION: Christy moved approval of the proposed operational procedures. Parliament seconded.

Parliament amended the motion to delete the last sentence of section seven of the operational procedures so that it reads as follows:

7. The association shall encourage sections to propose timely principal paper sessions, symposia, and free sessions for presentation at the Association's annual meeting. Subject to the approval of the AAEA executive board, sections may hold seminars, symposia, workshops or equivalent activities at times other than the Association annual meeting. Newsletters, web sites, proceedings, publications, and other communication channels developed by sections utilizing business office services will be under the sponsorship of AAEA.

Christy seconded. The amendment failed.

MOTION: Skees moved to amend the main motion by adding "All section activities will be under AAEA sponsorship." in place of the last sentence. Pinstrup-Andersen seconded the amendment. The amendment carried and item 7 reads as follows:

7. The association shall encourage sections to propose timely principal paper sessions, symposia, and free sessions for presentation at the Association's annual meeting. Subject to the approval of the AAEA executive board, sections may hold seminars, symposia, workshops or equivalent activities at times other than the Association annual meeting. All section activities will be under AAEA sponsorship.

It was moved to call the question on the main motion to approve the proposed operational procedures as amended.

The motion carried.

The board next discussed the information that will be included on the advisory referendum to be included on the spring officer ballot. The sense of the board was to clearly inform members that the referendum is to obtain member reaction to establishing sections, not a vote on specific bylaws.

Penn reported for the ad-hoc committee to examine outsourcing AAEA journal production. The committee did not have any recommendation or request for action. They will have a complete report and recommendations for the Salt Lake City board meeting. The board emphasized the need to consider electronic publishing when making a recommendation.

Buccola reported for the ad-hoc committee on communications strategies. They recommended a committee prepare a web site/newsletter plan for presentation at the November meeting . Discussion followed.

MOTION: Buccola moved to establish a committee to deal with a web site/newsletter plan and report at the fall meeting. Pinstrup-Andersen seconded. Motion carried.

The ad-hoc committee on communications strategies also recommended investigating changing the name of the RAE to more appropriately reflect the breath of the intended audience. The board decided to seek suggestions from those making proposals for editorship of RAE and from the RAE editorial council.

The board next discussed the committee's recommendation that, starting in 1999, executive summaries of articles in AJAE, and perhaps RAE and CHOICES, be posted on AgEcon search with a link from the AAEA web site.

MOTION: Pinstrup-Andersen moved the consideration of executive summaries by the ad-hoc committee developing a web site/newsletter plan and bring a recommendation to the board. Buccola seconded. Motion carried.

The Board meeting was adjourned at 11 am.

Rueben C. Buse
Executive Secretary
April 13, 1998