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____________________________________________
MONTHLY
UPDATE
News for C-FAR Members
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural
Research
September/October 2008
Greetings from C-FAR. This month's Update
is brief due to having just issued the Semi-Annual Report
to the Membership. If you haven't already received this
report in the mail, you will soon. I do hope that you spend
some time reviewing the report and the additional information
that accompanies it.
There are, however, just a few topics I would like to highlight
in this month's Update.
FY09 SUPPLEMENTAL
APPROPRIATION
As I shared with you last week, we are certainly pleased
that the Illinois State Senate and House of Representatives
deemed it appropriate to approve an FY09 C-FAR supplemental
appropriation of $2.135 million. The bill including this
and many other supplemental appropriations is on its way
to the Governor for his consideration. While we do not know
what the Governor's intentions are in regard to this bill,
we do know this funding is critical to avoid cuts - some
significant - to ongoing research.
BOARD MEMBER NOMINEES
SOUGHT
Last week, the contact persons for all Organizational members
were mailed the Call for C-FAR Board Member Nominations
packet (the contact person is that individual who receives
such key communications on behalf of her/his organization).
This packet of information is available to any C-FAR member
upon request.
Let me reiterate an important message that Nominating Committee
Chair Jack Erisman recently shared. Of the four board member
seats to be elected at the February 2009 annual meeting,
two of these seats will be "open seats" as Directors
Nels Kasey and Karen Little have reached their term limitations.
Regarding the additional two seats, Directors Jim Charlesworth
and Jerry Hicks are eligible for re-election should they
so seek re-election.
Board member nominations are due November 14 and submission
of the C-FAR-issued nomination form is required. Any representative
of an Organizational member is an eligible nominee so long
as a fellow representative of the same organization is not
already serving on the Board. All eligible individuals interested
in serving C-FAR in this important leadership role are encouraged
to have a nomination submitted on their behalf.
I join Chairman Erisman in welcoming any questions you
might have regarding the nomination process or the responsibilities
and opportunities of serving on the C-FAR Board of Directors.
An overview of these responsibilities and opportunities
is also available on our website at http://www.ilcfar.org/organization/boardr&o.html
FY09 EXTERNAL PROGRAM
INITIATIVES FUNDED
With thanks to the due diligence of our working groups,
we're pleased to announce seven initiatives have been selected
for funding through the FY09 External Competitive Grants
Program. The list of these initiatives has been posted on
our website at: http://www.ilcfar.org/research/fy09_external.html.
In addition, a brief description of each of these research
projects will be highlighted in our next newsletter, which
my associate LeAnn Ormsby anticipates sending to you during
mid-October.
Let me reiterate that the quality of proposals submitted
to the FY09 External Program was deemed by many as possibly
the highest in the program's history. Our thanks to the
researchers for putting forth such sound proposals and to
our working groups for their very deliberate consideration
in prioritizing proposals to fund.
LATEST STATE RANKING
RELEASED
Each year at this time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
issues a report ranking each state for its food and agricultural
research expenditures (which of course track the state's
respective appropriation). In the semi-annual report recently
distributed, detailed information is included on this topic.
However, let me share the headlines here. The latest report
indicates Illinois has:
- Dropped from 22nd to 24th in the nation
- Moved from 9th to last of the ten Midwestern states
An analysis of this ranking, which is included in the semi-annual
report, will be of interest to you.
As our producer colleagues and other professionals begin
the work of harvest, may it be a very safe and productive
fall.
All our best.
Kraig
As we turn to October and the baseball playoffs… GO
CUBS GO!
_______________________________________________________
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
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