Participants: Nicolas Tremblay, President; Ken Sudduth, Past-President; Ian Yule, President Elect; Raj Khosla, Founding President; Terry Griffin, Treasurer; Viacheslav Adamchuk, Secretary; John Stafford, 2012-14 President; Quentin Rund, Executive Secretary

 

 

The meeting started at 14:30 EST.

 

Raj asked that “relationship with ECPA” be added to the agenda. The modified agenda was agreed on.

 

The minutes from August 3, 2016 meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved.

 

The minutes from the October 24, 2016 conference were reviewed. Raj inquired about a follow up on the relationship with ACPA. Quentin mentioned that the ACPA call for abstracts has been posted on the ISPA website and through e-mail distribution to the society. Ian reported on the status of the organization for the conference. An agreement has been reached that oral presentations will be accompanied by papers and poster presentations with abstracts. Ian also described the status of precision agriculture communication with the government within New Zealand. Nicolas pointed out that the overall relationship with local societies is a point of discussion. Ian agrees that ISPA should be positioned as an overall umbrella. International connections are an important component. Slava raised the issue with regards to national societies. Ken mentioned that the original policy on regional groups could be applied to a country, part of a country or several countries.

 

The minutes from the October 24, 2016 meeting were unanimously approved.

 

Quentin reported on the final financial statement from 13th ICPA. The conference was financially successful with a net income around $35.5K versus $16.5K from 12th ICPA. It was noted that 92 participants were adds-on registrations from InfoAg.

 

Raj suggested that Terry should work closely with Ken to review previous financial statements to see if there are any options to continue to grow financially. Ian noted a lack of sponsorship. Ken mentioned that this was partially due to the model that we have this time around with InfoAg. Quentin emphasized that this was still the highest level of sponsorship ICPA ever had. One of the key points is that exhibitors are inclined to choose options to participate when exhibitions increase their sales of hardware, software and services. Ian mentioned that some sort of ISPA-based endorsement might be attractive to commercial participants. Ken emphasized that Quentin should be credited for the sponsorship achievements and IPNI was quite generous while collaborating with ISPA. Ian has left the meeting.

 

Terry reported a $113,169.41 (November 30, 2016) account balance. Terry and Quentin will work on the Precision Agriculture editor payment. John mentioned that Paul Carter is at the end of his term as editor and Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer is starting his term in 2017. Terry mentioned about the optional insurance suggested to maintain the account integrity. Nicolas asked about an interest generating account. Raj mentioned that the account should also be audited and Terry's set of skills could be useful in going through this exercise. Quentin suggested that Gary Black, auditor for IPNI, might be available to do this for ISPA. He is going to find out about the costs. There is a need for Nicolas to be added to the account and he will work with Terry to find a way to do this.

 

Quentin explored options for the 2018 ICPA. Le Centre Sherrington is the best option in Montreal, but the available dates are June 24-27. Slava mentioned that his sabbatical has been approved and he could dedicate sufficient time to help with the program. Nicolas reported on his communication with the Quebec and Ontario groups that would be supportive. Raj mentioned that everyone should be on board in case we move to Montreal. Ken likes both options (Montreal and St Louis). However, some individuals (e.g., USDA employees and graduate students) may experience complications in travelling abroad the USA. John and Terry also support both options. Slava provided more details on locations and dates. Raj expressed some concerns, but supported the idea of international meeting locations and Montreal is a good place to start. Nicolas has summarized that the Board is in favour for Montreal.

 

John reported that 300 abstracts were submitted to ECPA in UK. The Hungarian team is interested in hosting the next ECPA. More details will be available for the next conference call.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 16:30 EST.