In attendance:  Jason Hubbart (Chair), Ock Chun, Troy Ott, Beth Gugino, Jake Bowman, Josh Kohut, Lee Hecker, Toni DiTommaso, Jason White, Vagner Benedito, Gretta Tritch Roman, Chris Smart, Anton Bekkerman, Tyler Messerschmidt, Lynne McLandsborough, Bill Miller, Anna Katharine Mansfield, Brian Farkas, Diane Rowland, Eric Von Wettberg, Tsakani Ngomane, Lisa Townson, Bridget Krieger, David Leibovitz, Rick Rhodes

 

Chair’s Welcome:  IACUC Discussion – Jason Hubbart

• Jake Bowman sits on the UD IACUC committee.They require counts of specific numbers of animals, e.g. number of birds in a house.The requirements at Delaware go beyond animal care requirements.

• IACUC is a work-intensive committee to serve on.

• Animals are not under the ag experiment stations at Cornell. Animal care compliance falls under the office of compliance which is under office of the vice provost for research. Animals are primarily in the Department of Animal Science and the Vet School.

• Penn State IACUC is in the office of research protections under the Senior Vice President for Research. Covers all animals. There is a separate committee for the medical school in Hershey.

• At UConn, animal care is under office of compliance in OVPR, not under the Storrs ag experiment station.

• UMass runs its animal farm (one with horses, sheep and goats) and a second with cattle.Both units are just for teaching, not for research.This has kept IACUC at an arms distance from the experiment station.

• The topic of IACUC operations and state stations was tabled.This could be a rich area to dive into.For instance, we might examine foundational questions in which we discuss clarification of purpose and alignment.What is the true mission of the IACUC?Is it primarily a compliance mechanism, a welfare safeguard, or an ethical decision-making body and can it be all three effectively?

 

Washington Insider’s Take on the Government Shutdown (LBA/APLU) – Bridget Krieger

• Government has been shut down for 16 days; no signs of reopening soon.

• Minibus funding bill could be in the making in the aftermath of the shutdown.This would include Agriculture, legislative branch, military construction and Veterans Affairs.There is desire to include Defense and HHS in this which will require more waiting.

• The longer the shutdown goes, congressional members will bring even more to the table to negotiate.

• A shutdown only ends when one side starts to see a disproportionate amount of negative press.

• Pressure points: military pay, WIC money running out (states will have to cover), USDA announced a delay in SNAP payments.

• USDA personnel have not yet been affected by this wave of reduction in force.

• Capacity RFAs have been released, USDA needs to figure out how to turn funds around to the Land-grant stations/institutions.

• Bottom line: there are a lot of unknowns.

 

Northeast Food Tech Corridor – Gretta Tritch Roman

• October 24, 12 pm ET – inaugural meeting for this group.Ten institutions so far will be represented.

• Participants are asked to think about identifying stakeholders:

  • In-state industry partners

  • Ag associations/interest groups

  • Key institutional facilities for piloting or scaling programs

  • Innovation ecosystem organizations; e.g. small business orgs, incubators

  • Economic development partners

  • State agency partners

• Virtual conversations will be scheduled regularly; an in-person event will be scheduled in January-February (tentatively Philadelphia).

• There is a basic premise in place, it would be ideal to refine our message and clearly identify the theme that will guide the effort.

• We will be focused on activities in three major areas, leveraging northeast capacities to build resilience into our food systems and grow northeast agriculture in the future:

  • Food production (automation, robotics, machine learning, monitoring and sensing)

  • Post-harvest (food manufacturing, distribution, processing)

  • Food waste

• How can research and extension centers be used as sites for tech development and testing, and for regional collaboration?

• Regional coordination will happen; the ENGINE proposal is one way to demonstrate the value of this coordination.

• Economic impact – specifically a count of spin-off companies – is important in demonstrating success

• agInnovation Northeast’s role: convening the group and serving as the submitting entity for this regional effort.

 

Directors comments

Project Initiation Issues

• Widespread issues with projects not appearing in NRS across the region and the country are happening during the federal government shutdown.

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F&A

• PSU exploring 15% F&A going forward.Deans have been asked to consider how the drop to 15% would be covered.The effective rate is currently around 30%.If F&A is modified, some costs might be allowed to be charged to grants.More to come.

• What are other institutions doing in anticipation of the reduction in F&A?(Another rich topic for future discussion.)

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Call adjourned at 9:01 AM.