Read the 2026 NE Agenda and discover the priorities driving impact across the Northeast.

In attendance:  Jason Hubbart (Chair), Eric von Wettberg, Ock Chun, Lindsay Triplett, Chris Smart, Toni DiTommaso, Puneet Srivastava, Gretta Tritch Roman, Anna Katharine Mansfield, Beth Gugino, Anton Bekkerman, Jake Bowman, Josh Kohut, Mazen Shehat, Asim Zia, Rick Rhodes, David Leibovitz

 

Meeting Administration – Jason Hubbart

• The agenda for this meeting, along with the minutes of the March 17-18 agInnovation Business Meeting were both approved unanimously.

• Jason expressed appreciation to Eric von Wettberg and University of Vermont for arranging pre-conference tours, the opening Hort farm reception, and a successful day of plenary sessions and facilitated discussion at Shelburne Farms on June 2.

 

The Future of agInnovation NE – Rick Rhodes

• Rick Rhodes announced he will be retiring in June 2027 and reflected on a decade of partnership that came along with the Executive Director position.

• Questions were posed to the Directors:

  • What do you need (or want) most from agInnovation NE moving forward?

  • What does the next chapter of agInnovation NE look like to you?

  • How can the association set up the next Executive Director for success?

• The NE has cultivated a unique relationship between agInnovation and Cooperative Extension Directors, compared to other regions.

• agInnovation NE has established a flexible business operating environment.

• Is there anything we can learn about the ED search process and association operations from counterpart agInnovation regional associations?

• All at the table identified priorities moving forward:  foster continued interactions around grad forum and the Northeast Engine initiative.  The Executive Director should continue to uphold the interactive, collaborative culture among our organization.

• agInnovation Northeast Directors are tasked with forming a search committee for the next NE Executive Director.  Directors are asked to consider who might lead the search and participate in this process.  David Leibovitz will participate alongside the Directors.

  • Should we involve a representative from another region on the committee?

  • What can we learn from other regions about this process?  North Central is the region that has most recently hired an Executive Director.

  • Ideally, interviews should be lined up by Spring 2027.  Historically, interviews have been conducted on-site directly before or after the Spring Meeting, but that is not a requirement.

 

Multistate Activities Committee Report

• Administrative Adviser Assignments

  • NE2248 (Mastitis Resistance) and NE2204 (Food Systems Research) –  Ock Chun volunteered to serve as AA for these projects.Ock’s appointment was approved unanimously.

  • Directors are asked to consider volunteering to serve in other open Administrative Adviser positions:  NE2334 (Avian Diseases), NECC2202 (Minor Use Animal Drug Program), NECC29 (Corn Improvement Conference)

• NRSP Review Committee

  • The NRSP RC met virtually in May to discuss one request to write, one regionally reviewed proposal, two mid-term reviews, and a funding increase request.

  • The request to write proposal (Digital Agriculture) was rejected by the NRSP RC.  The NRSP RC elected to issue an RFP nationally for drafting a whitepaper on Digital Agriculture.  Collectively, agInnovation is seeking expert help to define research challenges in Digital Agriculture over the next decade.

    • Could soliciting whitepapers be a model for proposing new NRSPs?

  • The regionally reviewed NRSP_TEMP_12 (Urban Agriculture) proposal is recommended for rejection by the NRSP RC.  The northeast was the only region to support approval of this proposal with revision.  This recommendation to reject will be brought forth to agInnovation for voting electronically over the summer.

  • Midterm reviews of NRSP8 (Genomic Capacity: Building Applied Genomic Capacity for Animal Industries) and NRSP11 (Building Collaborative Research Networks to Advance the Science of Soil Fertility: Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool (FRST) were both positive.

  • A request for increasing funding submitted by NRSP11 is being recommended for approval by the NRSP RC.This recommendation to approve will be brought forth to agInnovation for voting electronically over the summer.

• Other Northeast projects renewing in 2026

  • NE_TEMP2650: Building a Resilient Equine Economy: Sustainable Pathways for Horses and Communities

  • NE_TEMP2640: Effective Management of Nematodes in Plant and Soil Health Systems

  • NE_TEMP2603: Advancing high tunnel specialty crop production

  • NE_TEMP2605: Eastern White Pine as an Iconic North American Tree: Evolving Dynamics and Future Opportunities

  • New multistate activity concept for consideration:  Graduate and post-doc forum Coordinating Committee

    • Lots of desire among grad students to establish a “cohort model” to build continuity and connection, and reinforce linkages to AES.

    • A coordinating committee would create a mechanism for providing travel support for participants.

    • NEED is interested in how to engage with the graduate forum in the future.

 

Engine Update (Northeast Food Tech Corridor) – Gretta Tritch Roman

• The Engine initiative team held a productive meeting in Philadelphia on February 26, 2026.

  • Considering how to build preliminary successes – what could this look like?

  • “NEW” (Northeast to the World) farm engine concept – access to farming and industry and large population base

  • Proposing translation teams – inside the Engine, someone will connect users to pertinent resources across the region, networks of human resources and physical infrastructure will be closely connected.

  • Mini-engine concept was a prototype of how the full Engine looks, examining how to address gaps across states, how does each state fit into the effort to fill gaps.  This works to identify strengths of the region that involve very different industry partners (e.g. tree fruit, organic ingredients)

  • What innovative technologies can we open the door for?

• Participating institutions should think about their conviction in participating in this effort.  Then, consider what is your personal conviction?  What can you personally gain from engaging with this Engine?

• Strategy for engaging leaders at State Departments of Agriculture:

  • What problem can the Engine initiative address for your state specifically?  What are the funding needs to address these problems?

  • Gretta can draft talking points or a one-pager to help explain the regional effort and craft a pitch to state ag departments.

• Sometimes your fit may come into focus after the concept is more fully realized.

• States may still join the Engine team – contact Gretta Tritch Roman if you are interested.

 

agInnovation NE Budget Discussion

• Major expense categories proposed:  Personnel (Executive Director and Coordinator), NE initiatives (e.g. Graduate and Post-doctoral Forum), Meeting/professional development support (e.g. support for Northeast Joint Summer Session), OED Travel.

• The agInnovation Northeast FY2027 Budget Proposal includes a 5% increase to the assessment, largely to address the salary for the Coordinator (based on salary comparison and union contract).

• This proposed 5% increase in assessment is set to cover immediate needs for the association.

• The proposal retains a similar operating budget, including support for graduate and post-doctoral forum without collecting registration.  The slight decrease in operating on large lines represent trends in historical spending.

• Meeting support line includes support for summer meeting and full spring meeting support.

• The association has tried to maintain an annual 25% carry-forward in its budgeting.

• Chris introduced a motion to approve the FY27 budget as presented.  The motion was seconded by Anton and approved unanimously.

 

agInnovation Leadership Discussion

• The NE region will host the agInnovation National Chair position in 2027-28.  That nomination will be presented to the national group at its business meeting in July.

• Current chair (2026-27):  Chandra Reddy, Tennessee State University; Incoming Chair (2027-28):  Gene Kelly, Colorado State University.

• An outline of national Chair responsibilities is posted on the agInnovation NE website.

• All are encouraged to consider the leadership vision for 2028 with our region in the Chair position.

• Anton Bekkerman was nominated to serve as the agInnovation Chair in 2027-28, representing the NE region.  Anton’s nomination was approved unanimously.

 

Reimagining agInnovation activity

• Chair Chandra Reddy and Western Executive Director Bret Hess have launched an initiative called “Reimagining agInnovation.”

• The guiding question for this activity: how would you build aginnovation if you weren’t constrained by our current rules of operation, org structure, and funding model?

• The reimagining group seeks two Northeast Director-participants in a national facilitated activity.

• Josh Kohut volunteered to serve on the “Reimagining” team.  The floor remains open for another NE participant to join.

 

Future agInnovation NE Regional and National Meetings

• The 2027 agInnovation National Meeting will be held in the Northeast.  As a region we need to determine a venue for both the national meeting and the 2027 NE Joint Summer Session.

• Directors are exploring both Cape May, NJ and Philadelphia, PA.  Between Philadelphia and Cape May, One location might host the summer regional meeting (~June) and the other might host the national meeting (~September).

• agInnovation Northeast 2027 Spring Meeting is set to be held at Penn State University in State College, PA next March.

  • There is consideration of hosting the 2027 Northeast Graduate and Post-doctoral Forum immediately before or after the spring meeting.

  • There is also consideration of conducting interviews for the agInnovation Executive Director before or after the event.

 

Northeast Graduate and Post-doctoral Forum Reflections – Chris Smart, Josh Kohut, Anton Bekkerman

• 9 NE institutions were represented across a mix of oral and post presentations.

• Planning team involved 4 graduate students – this was essential for creating participant buy-in for the event.  Much of planning was grad student driven.

• Broad discipline representation was perceived as an advantage.

• The grad forum set up LinkedIn interactions between students and AES Directors across institutions.

• Students felt empowered, felt like they could comfortably exercise their expertise.  It was beneficial to not have grad students’ advisors in the room.

• The directors agreed to explore holding a 2027 graduate forum immediately before or after the spring meeting.

 

Other business

• NCFAR has drafted a community letter expressing concerns about the coming changes to USDA REE.  agInnovation NE will sign this letter on behalf of the region.

• The Northeast Agenda has been refreshed (text and visuals) for 2026 and is expected to launch this month.

• Summer meeting reflections:

  • Shelburne Farms as a venue was immersive, relaxing, and provided an opportunity to retreat, reflect, and pause in between sessions.

  • Speakers from outside of agriculture (e.g. medicine) are valuable to hear from.

  • Speaker > Q&A > Facilitated discussion > Q&A was a great flow for the sequence of general sessions.

  • Graduate student note takers were essential and appreciated.

  • Facilitated discussion is helpful; group reflection is important for reinforcing lessons learned from the sessions.

  • A soft recommendation for mixing up the makeup of table participants with different institutions might be helpful.

  • The association was grateful to the University of Vermont and thanked Eric von Wettberg on behalf of the UVM team for their hosting and planning of the meeting.

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The Meeting adjourned at 12:04pm ET.