20180131 Minutes

International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) Board Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2018

Conference Call

Participants: Nicolas Tremblay, President; Ken Sudduth, Past-President;

Ian Yule, President Elect; John Stafford, 2012‑14 President; Terry Griffin, Treasurer; Viacheslav Adamchuk, Secretary; Quentin Rund, Executive Secretary

Could not participate: Raj Khosla, Founding President

The meeting started at 14:30 EST. The distributed agenda was approved. Slava reviewed the November 11, 2017 minutes and they were approved.

Nicolas gave an update on the newsletter. Quentin will implement a practice of keeping future events on the list until they take place. ICPA keynote speakers will be announced in the next newsletter.

Quentin reported on the progress of preparations for ICPA. To date, 435 abstracts have been submitted, which is more than a 40% increase from the previous meeting. Nicolas has assigned reviewers to the abstracts and the reviews should be completed next week. A group discussion on the abstract review process took place. Abstract relevance and quality are two of the primary decision criteria. Nicolas suggested that Board Members should send acceptances soon and separate special cases for secondary review. Quentin demonstrated how to “add process” using admin tools to move things forward. We have two exhibitors at this point. Some of the previous sponsors did not commit this time, but communication with potential sponsors is on-going.

A PAG collaboration proposal was discussed to elevate ISPA exposure. There are concerns that there should be similar conditions when connecting with other organizations. The item will be discussed at a later conference call.

Nicolas indicated SPAA has offered to host the 2020 ICPA. John mentioned that in reality, ICPA has been considered North American. Ian discussed wide array of issues related to further development of ISPA. Slava suggested that all ISPA-linked conference chairs should be included as associate board members. The group agreed that the next ICPA should be in the USA. SPAA may be recommended to host the 2021 ACPA. Slava mentioned that it is time to start discussing the 2020 ICPA venue.

Ian left the call.

John’s report on PRAG performance was circulated before the meeting. The journal is doing well. Securing referees and the time it takes to do the reviews are main constraints. Discussion with Springer in terms of cooperation with ISPA is on-going. Journal presence at ICPA is essential. Terry reported that at the end of 2017, the ISPA account (excluding CDs) was $12,962. The increased (2.7%) PRAG stipend was unanimously approved.

The audit will be done after April 17, 2018 when the auditor will be available. Quentin and Terry will work with him.

Terry has asked about the ICPA program formation process. Quentin and Ken explained the 2016 ICPA process.

The next Board call will take place in about a month. The meeting was adjourned at 16:30 EST.

Distributed Agenda

1. Call to order / Welcome
2. Agenda approval
3. Review and approval of minutes 17-11-11
4. Monthly newsletter update (Q. Rund)
5. 14th ICPA update
   1. a.      Numbers and status (Q. Rund)
   2. b.      Sponsorships etc (N. Tremblay)
   3. c.      PAQ proposal and similar offers (Q. Rund)
6. 2020 ICPA (N. Tremblay)
   1. a.      SPAA (Australia) proposal for ICPA hosting
7. Renewal of PRAG Stipend
8. Miscellaneous
   1. a.      Audit (Q. Rund)
9. Adjourn