October 2008 West District Minutes 

West District – NCACAA 

October 29, 2008 

Buncombe County Extension Center 

Submitted by Jeff Bradley 

Attendance: Jeff Bradley, Tony McGaha, Stanley Holloway, Linda Blue, Amanda Stone, John Dorner, Kendra Bissette, Kenneth McCaskill, Alan Durden, Megan Riley, Mike Ford, Sue Colucci, Rob Hawk, Kenneth Reeves, Jeff Vance, Tim Matthews, Skip Thompson, Elizabeth Ayers, Diane Turner, Bill Skelton, Silas Brown, Mario DeLuca, Dan Smith, Molly Sandfoss 

Chairman, Skip Thompson, called the meeting to order at 10 am. Bill moved to approve the minutes from the April meeting. Kenneth R seconded, the motion passed. 

The treasurer’s report was presented by Skip in Tamara’s absence. John moved to approve the report, Elizabeth seconded, and the motion passed. 

Skip recognized Stanley to give a report on the recent NCACAA State Board meeting. Stanley gave a report on the state meeting indicating 137 members present. This number was lower due to the National meeting immediately following the state meeting. Stanley reported the national meeting was an overwhelming success, with around 200 more registered than expected. The accounts aren’t finalized from the national meeting but it is expected that we will end up with a positive balance of around $125,000 after all accounts are paid. The 2009 State Ag Agents meeting is to be held in Raleigh possibly at the Brownestone Hotel on Hillsborough Street. Firm dates and location will be forthcoming. 2009 National meeting will be in Oregon. Barry Foushee is running for national treasurer. Elizabeth thanked all members who helped with the Sons and Daughters tour at the 2008 National Meeting. Stanley commended all NC Ag agents who helped NC “set the bar” for future national meetings. 

Skip asked for a round of introductions and welcomed new agents to the west district, either by hire or by district relocation. 

Skip presented a request for Karen Ball, West District Secretaries Association president, for $100 to help with attendance to state meeting for secretaries in Asheville. Discussion followed that $100 was not enough. John moved to give $250 and for Karen to request additional support at a later date if needed for door prizes, etc. Kenneth McCaskill seconded and the motion passed. 

Kenneth Reeves was recognized to talk about the awards application process for ag agents. He indicated that the state awards chair would inform district chairs of deadlines for awards applications (that date normally being around Dec. 1^st). The awards available are: Young Agent Award – award monies to be spent to offset cost of attending national meeting, Achievement Award and Distinguished Service Award – award monies rewarded to agents attending both the state and national meetings. Bill Skelton added that the was an award available for us to nominate producers – Service to Agriculture Award and John Dorner added there was an award for folks who had contributed heavily to the association – Hall of Fame Award. 

Skip recognized Kenneth Reeves on his retirement date and thanked him for his years of dedication and service to the association. 

Skip thanked John for keeping the West District NCACAA webpage current and up to date. There was some discussion on SPAM e-mails and John indicated he would fix that. He also mentioned the possibility of everyone moving to the eXtension community mailing list. An e-mail will be forthcoming on how to join. 

Skip passed around the committee list for the West District and asked members to sign up for at least one committee either on that list or by way of e-mailing John. This should be done prior to the next district meeting. 

Skip indicated that Tamara wanted everyone to update the NCACAA membership form. This should be returned to Tamara ASAP. 

Skip introduced Megan Riley to give us an update on the WNC AgOptions Program. Megan highlighted some changes to this year’s application form and score sheet. The new score sheet placed a little more weight on tobacco growing history. It also gave more points to longer term farmers. In order to move away from applicants actually reading recommendation letters from agents, there is a new agent recommendation form that should be submitted for applicants that contact their agent with an “intent to apply” before December 1^st. If applicants do not contact their agents, the agent is not required to fill out a recommendation form. Actual recommendation letters (non-Extension) will be limited to 2 letters per application. The grant amounts will be moved to $3000, $6000, and $9000 this year. Megan asked that we promote the program at our meetings and/or invite her to promote the program. Kenneth Reeves added that we now have a three year commitment from Tobacco Trust which in the past was only a one year commitment. This will increase the sustainability of the program. Rob gave a brief history of the program and encouraged us to continue working with Megan to increase the long-term effects of the program on Western NC agriculture. 

Skip asked for a volunteer to host the next meeting. Jeff brought up the idea of a meeting rotation around the district alphabetically. Jeff was put in charge of bringing a proposed rotation to the next meeting. Kenneth McCaskill volunteered to host the next meeting in Macon County and will e-mail possible dates in late March or early April. 

Agents reported on various upcoming regional events that might be of interest to our producers across the west district. 

Skip talked about the water withdrawal bill and for us to be thinking about how it may affect our producers. If we think it will affect us, Skip will send us a copy of the actual bill.