Attendance: Bill Taylor, Scott Hininger, Jim Gill, Jerry Langbehn, Wayne Tatman, Brett Moline, Jim Krall, Ed Bradley, Doug Hixon, Ron Delaney, Frank Galey, Glen Whipple, Alan Gray.
Bill led us in an exercise on Engagement. The team also discussed why we were here and what talents and skills we each had to offer.
The question, what are we giving up for this process?, was posed to the group. Each will have to make sure county issues are covered. This team will allow refocusing and help CES to go in a new direction.
Horticulture issues were discussed. Thus far, this team has not dealt with horticulture. It was agreed on that county CES needs to use other teams’ energy and increase efficiency. The team felt horticulture was a growing need and actually generated more call- and walk-in traffic than any other area. However, it was agreed that the team could only start one project at a time and it is of more economic and political importance to address traditional agricultural issues first. Horticulture will need to be addressed by this team once a program in livestock and a program in crops is in place.
Bill raised the question, who do we as a team represent? Answers included Wyoming agriculture as a general audience. This team also represents colleagues not present, including on-campus and off-campus College of Agriculture personnel.
It was pointed out CES needs to take advantage of Community Colleges. CES needs to collaborate with NRCS and Community Colleges. Personnel from these agencies should be on issue teams. Regardless who CES collaborates with, CES needs to get credit for it’s work and take leadership. CES needs to develop relationships with appropriate agencies and organizations. These relationships need to be at the local, state, national, and international level.
This team then discussed the flow of input to this team. It was agreed that we need to inform co-workers concerning what we are working on. A formal needs assessment needs to be done. This team needs to find out what is needed by our clients on a state-wide basis. A state-wide advisory group should be used. Needs assessments also need to be done on a district basis. Glen explained that administration has developed a plan to do formal program needs assessment on a rotational basis by district, and a state-wide survey on the fifth year. Consequently, it will be a few years before this data will be available to the team. It was agreed that the team has gathered some information from the brainstorming done at the initial meeting in Laramie and that we need to develop an initial project which can show some progress. We then need to determine whether more needs assessment is needed by the team before the state data becomes available.
The team then discussed how long would we work on issue/topics. The team will need to review if we are on the correct road. Forage-livestock systems are a broad issue yet the team needs to work on agronomy issues, including row crops. This team needs to be ready to respond to emerging issues affecting the state and regions. The team agreed there needs to be more and better communication among agents, specialists, and department heads.
Concerning a needs assessment, industry leaders, Wyoming Stockgrowers, and Wyoming Farm Bureau would be logical contacts. Internal advisory boards and colleagues should also be ultilized. Jim Krall and Wayne Tatman would work to develop a survey form to gather input from other CES personnel concerning the efforts of this team - Are we going in the right direction? Are there other needs or priorities we should be addressing?
This team then discussed the drought task force. Drought is a cross-cutting issue. Its effects should be dealt with other initiative teams along with the PSAS team. Forage management along with crop issues are affected by drought. This team recommended the drought team act as a cross-initiative team. Scott Hininger would be this teams representative.
Hoof and mouth disease was also discussed. Dr. Jim Logan is the lead of the Wyoming team dealing with this issue. The Wyoming team is a link to APHIS. Frank Galey will act as the PSAS team’s contact. We suggested a web site be utilized to post current information, especially biosecurity, on the hoof and mouth issue.
Next the PSAS team discussed what major issues it would work on. It was agreed that this teams long run goal was given by the strategic plan: Help Wyoming agriculture be profitable and sustainable in the long run. Sustainable forage-based livestock systems would be the main focus now. Later, plans need to be made for horticulture and crop systems.
This group is using a planning process utilizing the Logic Model, which lists the team’s planned long-, medium-, and short-term outcomes; outputs in the form of activities and participation; inputs; external influences; and assumptions. This model really outlines what this team plans to do and accomplish and can be viewed at http://www.uwyo.edu/CES/InitiativeTeams/AgSystems.html.
This team agreed to focus on the young beef female for their first project/program. This is one of the most critical aspects of the Wyoming range cattle industry. Plant, animal, economic, and range expertise is needed to help ranchers improve aspects of the replacement heifer. A sustainable efficient livestock/forage system emphasis will be the focus to this team. The target audience will be commercial producers, agencies, and allied industries. A task force/inter-discipline format, adaptable to various counties/districts will be used.
Various tasks were given to members of the group. Doug Hixon will check for existing packages/models. The various department heads will inventory their respective departments for applicable information to build a cohesive program. Bill Taylor will contact multi-county programs for information.
The team then brainstormed on what issues will be needed to be major thrusts in the next five to ten years.
1. Improve forage base on private lands.
2. Open space issues
3. CO2 sequestering
4. Ecosystem management
5. Precision agriculture
6. Alternative crops - always
7. Cost control - always
8. Organic/natural/GMO issues
11. Catastrophic diseases
The next meeting of this team will be June
6, 2001, in Sheridan.
Team recorder,
Brett Moline