Meeting Minutes January 10-11, 2024
January 10, 2024 Meeting Minutes | Mandan, ND
The State Board of Agricultural Research and Education met for a regular meeting on January 10, 2024. Present: Jim Bahm (virtual), Doug Bichler, Tom Bodine, John Dhuyvetter, Pam Gulleson, Larry Hoffmann, Sen. Jerry Klein, Greg Lardy, Sarah Lovas, Rep. Alisa Mitskog, John Nordgaard, Scott Ouradnik (virtual), and Julie Zikmund. Absent: Pres. David Cook, Doug Goehring, and Mark Urquhart.
Vice Chair Nordgaard called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
MOTION: John Nordgaard made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Larry Hoffman seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Administrative Update from Greg Lardy, VP for Agricultural Affairs, Dean, Director, Director
Dr. Lardy began by giving several updates on building projects. Construction on the Peltier Complex is estimated to be completed in April, followed by a six week move in process. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the complex will be scheduled for the week of June 10th; official date to come. Additional REC capital construction projects are underway or in the bidding process. Inflationary pressures have required adjustments to be made on the bid packages. Finally, the Field Lab Facility (Agricultural Laboratory) has raised 2.8 million-dollars and will begin construction summer of 2024 with a 24-month construction timeline.
Dr. Lardy introduced and welcomed Dr. Sam Funk as the new Director of the Williston REC.
Dr. Lardy gave several position updates for the NDSU Agriculture. The Agricultural Communications director’s search will begin mid-summer. A search for the interim director for NCI (Northern Crops Institute) is underway and a search for a permanent director will start later this spring.
The development officers have been successful in raising funds for two new endowed funds to support faculty. An endowed chair in the Animal Sciences Department in Livestock Evaluation raised two million-dollars from private donors. Additionally, funds for an endowed professorship to support the potato breeding program were also raised from private donors. Both endowments will be submitted to the challenge grant committee for additional financial support.
Dr. Lardy informed the board that Dr. Adnan Akyuz, State Climatologist, passed away on January 5. Adnan was a beloved teacher and a person who shared a passion for weather and climatology with his students. His course 'The Wonders of Weather' enrolled over five hundred students this fall. In that class, he shared with them an excitement for all things weather that his students will fondly remember. He also worked tirelessly to ensure the states' weather events were properly recorded with the necessary officials so that the state could document and apply for various federal disaster programs related to floods, droughts, and other weather events. It is estimated that he contributed over 100 million dollars in disaster relief. Obituary linked at https://everloved.com/life-of/fikri-akyuz/obituary/.
Administrative Update from Lynette Flage, Associate Director, NDSU Extension
Dr. Flage announced that a soybean pathologist has been hired, and that the swine specialist is in the final hiring negotiations. A Food Systems Specialist was recently hired internally, and Saundra Ziemann-Bolinske has transitioned to this position at the beginning of the year. Twelve extension specialists have either been hired, or are currently in the hiring process.
Dr. Flage noted that a major highlight of 2023 is that Extension had over 270,000 direct contacts.
Dr. Flage noted that there will be several mill levy votes for Extension again this year. Extension is currently working with county commissioners to get this on the local ballots for the June elections.
Prioritization Process Comments/Instructions from Sarah Lovas, SBARE Chair
Instruction was given to the Board to consider all of the information from the stakeholder input received, the previous biennium’s priorities, as well as the current resources available to the Ag Experimentation Station and NDSU Extension as well as the voids and barriers. The Board was encouraged to think broadly about the long-term needs of North Dakota and North Dakota Agriculture. The board was also encouraged to engage in active discussion and be active during the prioritization process.
The Board received three sheets of paper with the titles of Ag Experiment Station Programmatic, NDSU Extension Programmatic, and Capital Improvement. Chair Lovas instructed Board members to write down the five most important items for each category. In random order and by the Chair’s selection, each member went through and explained what each item on their list. The documentation was handed in and was compiled. A straw poll was conducted on the compiled lists.
MOTION: Senator Jerry Klein made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by John Dhuyvetter. Meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.
January 11, 2024 Meeting Minutes | Mandan, ND
Vice Chair Nordgaard welcomed Scott Huso, who was in the attendance. Huso was nominated to the SBARE board as an Ag Coalition appointee. Upon approval by the North Dakota University System Chancellor, he will begin his first term in July.
Nordgaard expressed his gratitude for NDSU leadership and the SBARE collaboration during the current legislative session.
Review of 2025 SBARE Dates and Field Day Schedules
The State Board of Agricultural Research and Education met for a regular meeting on January 11, 2024. Present: Jim Bahm (virtual), Doug Bichler (virtual), Tom Bodine, John Dhuyvetter, Pam Gulleson, Larry Hoffmann, Sen. Jerry Klein, Greg Lardy, Sarah Lovas, Rep. Alisa Mitskog (virtual), John Nordgaard, Scott Ouradnik (virtual), and Julie Zikmund. Absent: Pres. David Cook, Doug Goehring, and Mark Urquhart.
Chair Lovas called the meeting to order at 8:34 a.m.
Prioritization Process
The prioritization process continued with a discussion on previous priorities from last biennium. Detailed discussions about the unfunded items from the previous biennium as well as the results from the previous day’s committee work were discussed. The board discussed further information was needed in order for the board to make informed decisions. Deferred maintenance was an item on the capital list, but discussion showed that this item has precedent historically to exist on the Capital Improvement list as a critical need rather than be a ranked item.
MOTION: John Dhuyvetter made a motion to remove deferred maintenance from capital ranking list and consider it as a critical need. Seconded by John Nordgaard. Motion passed.
An additional straw poll for each category (Ag Experiment Station Programmatic, NDSU Extension Programmatic, and Capital improvement) was taken.
MOTION: Pam Gulleson made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Sen. Jerry Klein. Meeting adjourned at 12:09 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Erin McCall