AAEA Membership Business Meeting Minutes
July 30, 2002
Long Beach Convention Center

President Jean Kinsey called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m.

I. Approval of minutes of 2001 Annual Business Meeting
Ron Knutson moved to approve the minutes as presented. Steve Halbrook seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

II. Introductions and announcements
Kinsey introduced the current members of the AAEA Executive Board and welcomed newly-elected members Jon Brandt, Harry Kaiser and Susan Capalbo.

Kinsey recognized the service and expertise of the AAEA staff and introduced the staff members present at the meeting.

Kinsey also extended thanks to the follow individuals for their service and support of AAEA:
- Jon Brandt, for his service as chair of the Awards Committee for the past three years
- Danny Pick, for his service as chair of the Selected Papers Committee for 2002
- Paul Patterson, for his service as chair of the Selected Posters Committee for 2002
- Julie Caswell, for her service as chair of the New Products and Professional Activities Committee
- Rob King, for his work in chairing the Communications Working Group
- Steve Buccola, for his leadership of the newly-formed External Image and Name Change Task Force
- Kinsey's partner Frank Busta, for his support and patience during Kinsey's term as AAEA president

Finance Committee Chair Cathy Kling reported on the financial status of the association. Improved accounting practices in the AAEA office have given the Executive Board the ability to track costs and expenditures in specific areas and now present a clearer picture of association finances.

The association is on track for its budgeted expenditures and the deficit continues to decline. The source of the deficit is, in large part, the expenses involved in printing and distributing Choices magazine.

The combined assets of the Foundation and the Association equal approximately $1.2 million at this point; the investment accounts for both groups have taken a hit, as most investments have in the current market conditions.

AAEA Executive Director Donna Dunn shared an update on the activities of the AAEA office in Ames. Dunn credited the AAEA staff with taking care of much of the day-to-day operations of the association and implementing the directions received from the membership and the Executive Board. The staff has taken some of the burden off the selected paper chair and the president in putting together the annual meeting, and works with the volunteers who are the association.

Membership renewals will be sent from the office in October. Dunn encouraged members to visit the AAEA Web site and use the electronic membership directory, which is updated each Friday, to access the most current information on AAEA members.

The office also is increasing the level of support offered to AAEA's sections, which help build and grow the AAEA's members. The office is already working on the logistics and international details for the 2003 annual meeting in Montreal. Promotional materials for that meeting should be coming out in the fall. The Montreal convention center has been recently renovated, and should be an excellent location for the meeting. Dunn explained the process by which the association reserves blocks of rooms at a number of hotels for each meeting, and encouraged members to stay in these designated hotels as it helps defray the costs for meeting space used in each hotel.

Dunn encouraged members to contact the office with new ideas and activities, as the staff is always seeking ways to support new initiatives. She expressed her pleasure at meeting with AAEA members and her appreciation of the opportunity to work with all AAEA members.

III. President's Comments on AAEA Activities
Kinsey shared with members some of the current and past accomplishments of the association. The initiatives outlined last year by the Priorities and Governance Committee are being implemented. Sections are now involved with the nomination process, and the Professional Activities/New Products committee has developed procedures to encourage members to come forward with new ideas and gives members assurance that those new ideas will be developed and reviewed. The AAEA Web site is constantly being updated and improved. Members' response to the call for papers and posters was very encouraging; submissions are coming from a diverse group of people, which Kinsey believes indicates that more people are feeling welcomed by the association.

Kinsey then shared her vision of future activities for the association. The current team of editors for the Review of Agricultural Economics is researching the possibility of electronic publication of that journal. Choices, the magazine of food, farm and resource issues, is here to stay and will be moving to on-line publication. Every facility is in place to keep the magazine's academic integrity and broaden its reach. The new format will allow for growth and broader outreach, and is anticipated to have much more demand pull. Printed copies of Choices articles can be done for anyone who requests them, and Kinsey encouraged all AAEA members to continue submitting materials for publication in Choices. The new Choices editor will be announced soon.

The association is planning for its 100th anniversary celebration in 2010. Kinsey will be forming a task force to start organizing this international event, and plans to invite agricultural economics associations worldwide.

The AAEA also will be participating in the 10th annual European Association of Agricultural Economists meeting in Zaragosa, Spain, with a session featuring presentations by AAEA members. AAEA's global involvement also is evidenced by its participation in the launch of EuroChoices.

AAEA membership has held steady for the last few years, with 2002 figures at approximately 3,100 members. This figure is down about 2,000 members from the peak several years ago, and the AAEA staff has done several activities to encourage members to renew. The papers posted from each meeting on Ag Econ Search are increasing the visibility of the association. Papers from the 2001 meeting were downloaded an average of 53 times each in the six months following the meeting.

In Kinsey's view, the association is entering into a time of rapid change and has three options at this point:
- redefine the term "agriculture" for the world and the entire supply chain, from seed companies to producers, and communicate this change to help the world understand who and what agricultural economists are
- reinvent the current communications systems so as not to be invisible
- rename the association - the External Image and Name Change Task for has no predisposition about changing the association's name. In the next five to 10 years Kinsey wants to see the AAEA become a larger, more diverse association both demographically and geographically and, with new confidence, act and think outside of the agricultural "box" by design.

IV. Foundation Initiatives
In the absence of Foundation President Eduardo Segarra, Alan Randall of the AAEA Foundation Board reported on the Foundation's latest initiatives and activities. Randall reported that in the past year, the Foundation has generated more than $54,000 in donations to be used toward the support of professional development activities for AAEA members. The Foundation's endowment at the end of 2001 stood at $1.2 million. In 2001, the Foundation received $44,000 in support of programs like the Essay for the 21st Century Contest and the Young Professionals Exchange Program with the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, among other initiatives. The Foundation also organized the Foundation Improvement Task Force to begin looking at how the Foundation can evolve to better serve the needs of AAEA members and raise awareness of the agricultural economics profession.

In 2001, appreciation clubs were chartered in honor of W. Burt Sundquist and Luther G. Tweeten. The Foundation's investment fund ended 2001 at approximately $75,000 less than it began the year, due to the conditions of the market.

At this year's meeting, the Foundation is supporting the Graduate Student Section Reception and Business meeting, as well as providing travel grants to various international professionals, minority professionals and graduate students attending the meeting.

Randall encouraged members to support the work of the AAEA Foundation in any one of the following four ways:
- Submit a proposal for an activity - the Foundation Board is always seeking innovative ideas from association leaders and members
- Organize or contribute to an Appreciation Club or to the general Foundation endowment
- Identify potential supporters for AAEA and Foundation activities, such as the sponsors of this year's meeting - the Farm Foundation, Bank of America and Texas Tech University.
- Provide feedback and suggestions to the Foundation Enhancement Task Force

The Foundation Enhancement Task Force was established last year and charged with creating a report outlining how the AAEA Foundation can expand its activities and funding base to increase its abilities. The Task Force has recommended shifting the mix of funds raised from publics and stakeholders, rather than AAEA members, and seeking sponsorship of ongoing activities. Randall encouraged all AAEA members to engage in discussion with the Foundation Board and the Task Force as this group moves forward with its work.

V. Other Business
No other business was presented.

VI. Recognition of outgoing AAEA Executive Board and Foundation Board Members
Randall expressed the appreciation of Foundation President Segarra for the service of outgoing Foundation Board members Stan Johnson and Mary Marchant. Randall also shared his own appreciation of Segarra's service to the Foundation Board as its 2001-2002 president, as well as the gratitude the Foundation Board owes to the AAEA staff, especially Executive Director Dunn and Chief Financial Officer Betty Eckebrecht for their work with the Foundation.

Kinsey recognized Michael Wetzstein and Spiro Stefanou for their service as editors of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Paul Barkley for his service as editor of Choices. She also recognized outgoing Executive Board members Robert King, Ron Knutson and Bruce Gardner, as well as outgoing Foundation Board member Mary Marchant, who served as vice-president of programs for the Foundation this past year.

VII. Passing of the Gavel
President Kinsey shared her high hopes that the association will move with the "speed of change" as she passed the gavel to President-elect Susan Offfutt.

Offutt welcomed all members to the 2003 meetings in Montreal, and thanked Kinsey for her year of exceptional service to the association. A drawing was held for a free registration to the 2003 meeting; Megumi Nakao of the University of Rhode Island was selected as the winner.

VIII. Adjourn

There being no other business, Bruce Gardner moved to adjourn. Darren Hudson seconded. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 9:03 a.m.