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

 

Could not participate: John Stafford, 2012-14 President

 

 

The meeting started at 15:30 EDT.

 

Nicolas presented the meeting agenda orally, which consisted of the following three items:

 

 

Nicolas reviewed the history of the interactions with ECPA/ACPA. Raj brought to the attention of the meeting that registration fees have been an issue for some potential members from countries with emerging economies. Ian provided an update on the status of the ACPA organization. More discussion is needed to pursue closer links with ISPA. Ken Sudduth has clarified that ACPA does not have a formalized structure. Slava asked if chairs of ECPA and ACPA should be members of the ISPA board. Raj emphasized that strengthening the relationship is important. Nicolas concluded that there is a need to continue work with national groups in terms of cooperation with ISPA. Raj suggested putting an action plan in place. Reduced fees according to the World Bank country classification is an important step. Slava summarised  that there are two items: 1) fee structure and 2) relationship with conference planning committees. Raj emphasized that building links with planning committees is an important initiative and adjusted ISPA registration fees would help the process. Ian is going to communicate with Craig McKenzie in terms of formalizing future partnerships  and he will report back.

 

Armin Werner's e-mail was distributed in mid-October and it outlines several key points. The first is the link of ACPA and ISPA websites. Raj mentioned that website development continuity is a potential offering of ISPA; Quentin supported this. The second issue was a fee reduction for ISPA members attending ACPA. Quentin is going to share the list of members to enable crosschecking of ACPA registrants against their ISPA membership. The third issue is the book of abstracts (one for crop and one for livestock). Ian will check if this would include papers or abstracts only and clarify the desired production. The fourth question is about the precision livestock community. Nicolas said that the issue was interesting and he was looking for leadership for a potential livestock community within ISPA. Slava mentioned that leaders of the international precision livestock conference planning committees might be good contacts.

 

Ian provided an update on the InterMet (2017, Singapore) conference. The organizers were open to involvement  by ISPA.

 

Slava asked about 2018 ICPA. Quentin is in communication with hotels. July 23‑26, 2018 is the possible timeframe under consideration. InfoAg has been planned on July 17-19, 2018 in St Louis, and the ASABE AIM is scheduled on July 29‑August 1, 2018. Quentin will continue investigating hotel pricing.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 17:00 EDT.