International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) Board Meeting Minutes
 
September 13th 2018
 
Participants; Ian Yule, President; Jess Lowenberg DeBoer, President Elect
Ken Sudduth, Past-President; John Stafford, 2012‑14 President; Terry Griffin, Treasurer; Quentin Rund, Executive Secretary
 
Could not participate: Raj Khosla, Founding President Nicolas Tremblay, Immediate Past President, Victor A.  Secretary
 
The meeting started at 13.06 UTC -6
 
Ian will contact regional conference reps with a review of this board meeting.
 
Minutes of Last Meetings (at ICPA)
Ian reviewed the minutes from the last two board meetings held in Montreal on the 24th and 26th of June 2018. Due to time pressures and prioritisation of other work, some items had not been resolved or discussed.
These include:

• Raj suggested discussion around the Foundation. (Ian to follow up with Raj with a view to it being discussed at the next board meeting).
• Terry noted that the decision around the audit had been made but not actioned. (Ian will follow up with Terry initially and then with Quentin.
• Terry also noted that Quentin’s contract still had not been signed. (Ian to follow up with Nicolas and then Quentin)

 
14th ICPA Financial Report
Quentin gave an update and report on the conference and it contribution to the Society. In terms of financial contribution, it had a net gain for the society of $64,468. Registrations were very strong with a total of 471 registrations, an additional 100 from previous conferences, this mostly came from additional Canadian attendees. Attached is a summary of the final financials from the conference. (This attachment is amended with the delayed information from the Sheraton and reflects the final numbers from the 14th ICPA.)
 
Quentin showed the results of the conference survey. (attached)
 
The great effort that Dr Nicolas Tremblay and Prof Viacheslav Adamchuk had put into the conference was acknowledged by the board and it was felt appropriate that they should be thanked by the President on behalf on the Society. Ian will write a letter to Nicolas and Slava.
 
PRAG
PRAG was discussed, January is the key meeting regarding approval of honorarium etc.
 
15th ICPA Locations Discussion
We need to decide on a city and date for the 15th ICPA. We discussed an number of alternatives. Several cities were mentioned (LA, Dallas/Houston, Kansas City, Denver, Tampa, Atlanta, ~Mexico) We discussed issues around organising a conference in parts of the country which were likely to be hot during the months of June July August. Florida also mentioned as gateway to South America to encourage greater number through ease of transport. Board was positive on North American location. Two primary options surfaced: Minneapolis/St. Paul and St. Louis. We need to decide by end of December.
 
Minneapolis/St. Paul:  
St. Louis:  
Some discussion of a World Congress on Precision Agriculture in 2022 – differences from an ICPA would be: larger / broader representation of groups.
 
Audit and Contracting.
Terry, brought up the question of audit and contracting to PAQ. We decided to do an audit, but have not acted on this. I
 
Country Reps
Ken has reviewed the requests emerging from the 14th ICPA. The issue of self nomination was discussed as well as expectations around the role and how we can better communicate. It was discussed to create a guideline for Country Reps: how they are nominated and approved, their term, responsibilities, and how they might be removed. Quentin will collect what has been discussed so far and share with Ken, Jess, and Ian for discussion at the next board meeting.
 
Newsletter:
How can we assist in developing material for the ISPA newsletter. Quentin sends a reminder each month to Country reps, community leaders and the board for materials for the newsletter. Action: How can we assist Jess and Ian.
 
ACPA / ECPA
We discussed cooperation with these conferences. Ian indicated Manjeet declined our offer for organization as they were already prepared. Suggested to create a package of services that we could offer other events.
 
We need to formalize an agreement to offer a discount to ISPA members for each conference.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 14.30 UTC -6
 
Attached as separate documents: