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AAEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes
January 7, 2001
New Orleans, La.

Attending: Bruce Gardner, Jean Kinsey, John Antle, Cathy Kling, Julie Caswell, Robert Taylor, Joe Glauber, Rob King, Ron Knutson
Ex-Officio: Donna Dunn, Gail Cramer, Paul Barkley, Spiro Stefanou
Guests: Betty Eckebrecht, Ivy Sprague, Nancy Herselius, Larry Martin, Peter Berck


President Bruce Gardner called the January AAEA Executive Board Meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday, January 7, 2001, in Balcony L of the New Orleans Marriott Hotel. Board members and guests were welcomed.

  1. The board agenda was reviewed and the following changes were made:
    1. The board will move into executive session at the conclusion of the agenda to discuss business office personnel and fellows selection.
    2. The discussion of the Congressional Science Fellow program will be added to Section IV, Item F - Finance Committee Report.
    3. Items A, B, C and D in Section IV will be discussed as follows: Item C - Principal Papers, Item A - Track Proposals and Item B - Joint Session Proposals discussed concurrently, Item D - Pre- and Post-Conference Proposals.
  2. The minutes of the July 28, 2000, meetings were discussed. Jean Kinsey and Julie Caswell submitted editorial corrections. Motion: John Antle moved to approve the minutes with editorial corrections. Seconded by Ron Knutson. Motion carried by unanimous vote.
  3. The board discussed the meeting of the Priorities and Governance Committee scheduled for Feb. 3-4, 2001, in Ames, Iowa. A facilitator has been hired. Bruce Gardner will contact Walt Armbruster and Jerry Skees about serving on the Committee. The current committee is comprised of Ron Knutson - chair, Cathy Kling, Julie Caswell, Dawn Thilmany, Matt Holt, Nancy Norton, Susan Offutt, Ralph Christy, Mark Lange and Dan Bernardo. The committee will operate on an ad hoc basis and present its recommendations at the August 2001 board meeting. The committee was asked to examine in particular the issues of governance, especially as it relates to sections, current committee structure, awards, and finance/fiscal issues.
  4. Action Items
    1. Principal Papers Proposals - the board discussed the principal paper session proposals that had been submitted. Summaries of the rankings by board members were distributed and discussed. The board approved the following principal paper sessions for inclusion in the 2001 annual meeting program: PP-16 (model specifications), PP-05 (welfare reform), PP-22 (conjoint data), PP-02 (e-commerce), PP-17 (sustainable development) and PP-13 (cooperatives). The board agreed upon the addition of another session time slot to the annual meeting program, bringing the total number of sessions on Monday and Tuesday to four. The board communicated to AJAE Editors Spiro Stefanou and Peter Berck its decision that principal papers submitted for publication that are over the page limit or received after the submission deadline will not be included in the proceedings issue.
    2. Joint Session Proposals - Bruce Gardner introduced Larry Martin of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society. Martin shared his organization's rankings of the joint session proposals that had been submitted for the 2001 joint meeting with the Canadian Society. Martin agreed that the proceedings of the joint sessions would be published in the Canadian Society's journal, rather than the AJAE. The board approved the following joint session proposals: CUSTA 1989 session, "State Trading Enterprises and WTO Negotiations", "Re-Evaluating the NAFTA", "System Costs, Firm Strategy, Information Technology…", "Safety Nets and Risk Management in Canada and the United States". The board also agreed with Martin to schedule the Canadian Society's presidential address on Monday evening, Aug. 6, and to schedule a fellow's address and eight to ten additional sessions for the Canadian Society throughout the program.
    3. Track Proposals - the board discussed the track proposals submitted and a summary of the board's rankings of the track proposals was distributed. Julie Caswell and Joe Glauber agreed to collaborate on writing the call for tracks for the 2002 annual meeting. The board agreed to accept the following modified proposals:
      1. Extension section track - nine sessions including its traditional luncheon event. All the sessions included in the first outlook proposal were approved, with the remaining time slots to be filled with sessions from the second issues proposal.
      2. Food Safety section track - accepted as submitted
      3. FAMPS track - five sessions
      4. AEM section track - four sessions plus the traditional industry banquet
      5. Methods of Teaching Excellence track - one session for each time slot, equaling nine sessions throughout the meeting

    4. Pre- and Post-Conference Proposals - the board discussed the conference proposals submitted and a summary of the board's rankings of the proposals was distributed. The board accepted the following modified proposals:
      1. "North American Free Trade Agreements: Policy Challenges for the 2002 Farm Bill and Beyond" - will be scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 8. This conference may be marketed as a stand-alone event to members of the Chicago Farmers and Chicago Agricultural Economist groups, adjusting registration rates to differentiate between AAEA members and non-members.
      2. "Developing a Learning Environment Where All Students Seek to Excel" - will be scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 5.
      3. "Learning Workshop on Spatial Data Analysis" - will be scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 4.
      4. "Research and Policy Needs of a Chastened Agbiotech Sector" - will be scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 4.

    5. Fellows Forum proposal - the board discussed a proposal for a discussion by AAEA fellows on Sunday, Aug. 5 on the issues of positioning agricultural policy for the future. The board agreed to add the proposal to the annual meeting program and make it open to all meeting attendees.
    6. Finance Committee Report and Budget Presentation
      1. Robert Taylor, chair of the Finance Committee, presented a report on the options and recommendations the committee.
        1. The AAEA has had a significant operating deficit since 1997. The current deficit situation is not sustainable, even with the presence of the Association's reserves. The Finance Committee recommended that the Board take significant action now and presented a series of actions designed to bring revenues and expenses in line over the next few years. Each option included a calculated sustainability index to demonstrate the long-term financial impact of each decision.

      2. Discussion followed on the Finance Committee's recommendations. The board agreed to amend the committee's recommendations to include the following items:
        1. A communications working group will be established to examine outreach and member communication vehicles. This group will present its recommendations to the board by August 2001, with board action on the recommendations occurring by October 2001.
        2. The number of issues of CHOICES published in 2001 and 2002 will be reduced from four to three.
        3. The deficit for CHOICES production will be reduced by $25,000 in 2001. The deficit will be reduced by $50,000 in 2002.
        4. Membership dues will increase by $10 in 2002. This change will be presented to the membership for their vote in August 2001.
        5. Annual meeting registration costs will increase by $25 in 2002.
        6. AJAE and RAE editors will increase page charges by $20 as soon as possible.
        7. A biennial inflation adjustment of 5% or the rate of increase in the the gross domestic product price index for the previous two years, whichever is larger, will be implemented beginning in 2004. This adjustment will apply to membership dues, annual meeting registration fees and page charges.
        8. The membership directory will be distributed in electronic format only.
        9. Funding for C-FARE for 2001 will be reduced to $5,000. The in-kind support provided by the AAEA office staff will continue at its current level.
        10. Support for AgEcon search will be continued at the requested level of $4,200.
        11. Suspend support for COSSA, COPFAS and CAST.
        12. The board supported the budget reductions implemented by the AAEA office staff as outlined in the Finance Committee's report - elimination of one position, canceling two phone lines, canceling recycling service, cutting non-essential travel for staff, limiting professional development activities, limiting staff dues and subscriptions, severely restricting the use of overnight delivery services, bringing bulk mailing activities back in-house, attempting to sublease excess office space and reducing equipment and software purchases - for a projected net gain of $60,000 annually beginning immediately.
        13. The board supports investigation/implementation of new sources of income.
        14. Profits from past workshops and conferences will be captured, including recognizing those held on the books in separate funds. The AAEA will continue to absorb losses and accrue profits from future conferences and workshops.
        15. The finance committee will make an annual report to be placed on the AAEA Web page for the membership to view.

      3. Motion: Robert Taylor moved to adopt the finance committee's recommendations as amended in the discussion. John Antle seconded. Motion carried by unanimous approval.
      4. Motion: Joe Glauber moved that the five items classified for 2001 as "off-budget" items (funding for C-FARE, COSSA, CAST, COPAFS and AgEcon Search) heretofore be included in the annual budget. Ron Knutson seconded. Motion carried by unanimous approval.

    7. Essay Contest for the 21st Century - Donna Dunn reported that the blue-ribbon selection panel hoped to have the winners selected by Jan. 12. The field has been narrowed to eight finalists. The funding for the five winners' awards is in place. Peter Berck recommended that the panel pass the winning essay along to the AJAE editors for possible inclusion in a future issue. Ron Knutson suggested forwarding the winning essays to the Farm Foundation for possible publication.
    8. Sections - the board reviewed the proposed by-laws of the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (CWAE). Motion: Julie Caswell moved to approve CWAE as a section of AAEA. Joe Glauber seconded. Motion carried by unanimous approval.
    9. Recommendation from the Foundation Governing Board on change to the Governing Board structure - At its July 2000 meeting, the Foundation Governing Board passed the following motion: Bob Taylor moved to approve the Foundation President to a two-year term. The second year would be as past-president. Seconded by Mary Marchant. Approved (5), opposed (3). Motion: Bob Taylor moved to send the recommendation before the membership at its August meeting. Ron Knutson seconded. Motion carried by unanimous approval.
  5. Reports
    1. AJAE - Spiro Stefanou reported that the transition process to Blackwell Publishing continues. The production editor overseeing the AJAE resigned and the AJAE editors have been handling complaints from article authors about Blackwell's editing process. Peter Berck and Robert Myers will be making a trip to Blackwell's offices at the publisher's expense to clarify the protocols of dealing with manuscripts. The December 2000 issue is in production now. Back issues are being scanned as part of a storage project at Cornell University. Within three months, the public can view back issues of the AJAE at http://chla.cornell.edu. Jeff LaFrance has resigned from the editorial board. The AJAE editors expressed their appreciation for LaFrance's contributions as an associate editor. The call for two new AJAE editors will appear in the January/February 2001 newsletter. Gardner thanked Stefanou and the other editors for their continued efforts on behalf of the Journal.
    2. RAE - Gail Cramer reported that 65 papers currently are in review and 49 papers had been returned to the authors, bringing the total number of papers in review to 114. Ten papers have been accepted for the last issue under the current editor. There were numerous problems with producing the Fall/Winter 2000 issue and the issue was a month late in appearing. Rob King is chairing the RAE editor selection committee. His committee is currently reviewing applications from three groups and will have a recommendation for the board that will require a board vote by e-mail or conference call. The terms under which the new editor is appointed will be under consideration of the communications working group discussed earlier. Gardner thanked Cramer for his work with the RAE and Cramer expressed his appreciation of the Board's support in producing the RAE.
    3. CHOICES - Paul Barkley reported that articles are in process for the fourth quarter 2000 issue. He has also received several manuscripts for the first issue of 2001. Submissions for CHOICES are at an all-time high. He has plans to ask non-academics to contribute at least two of 2001's guest editorials. He presented the board with a report on the members of the CHOICES advisory board. Outgoing members are George Frisvold, Bert Greenwalt, Betsey Kuhn, Donald McDowell, Scott Rozelle and Judith Stallman. Letters of thanks will be sent to the outgoing members. Barkley has identified three members of the advisory board he would like to retain - Gary Brester, Craig Jagger and Gregory Poe - and five individuals who have indicated they are willing to serve: Michael Boehlje, Hal Harris, Richard Levins, Noelwah Netusil and Katherine (Kitty) Smith. Appointments are typically for a three-year term; however, this may change based on the recommendations of the communications working group. Gardner expressed the board's understanding of the demands of producing CHOICES and the board's appreciation of Barkley's continued hard work and good humor. Motion: Julie Caswell moved to accept Barkley's recommendation for members of the CHOICES advisory board. Seconded by Rob King. Motion carried by unanimous approval.
    4. AAEA Business Office - Donna Dunn reported that the office staff has been reduced to six full-time staff members after the elimination of the member services associate position. Dunn expressed to the board how pleased she was to have such an outstanding staff.

  6. The board moved into executive session at 4:28 p.m.
  7. The board adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Donna French Dunn
Executive Director



Copyright 2008, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.