Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) Foundation, Inc. Minutes of the
Technical Working Group Telephonic Meeting
October 17, 2019
A telephonic meeting of the Technical Working Group of the Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) Foundation, Inc. was held on Thursday, October 17, 2019. The meeting was properly noticed and recorded. CRAFT Foundation, Inc. Executive Director Kristen Carlson called the meeting to order at 9:32 a.m. Roll was called, and a quorum was present. Committee members present were Dr. Ozgur Batuman, Tim Eyrich, Dr. Jim Graham, Dr. Greg Hodges, Mr. Brandon Page, Mr. Timothy Riley, Dr. Michael Rogers, Dr. Brian Scully, Dr. Robert Shatters and Dr. Tim Widmer.
Also in attendance were Kristen Carlson and Tamara Wood.
Welcome and Introductions: Ms. Carlson welcomed committee members and guests and thanked them for taking the time to join the call. Due to Chairwoman Patricia Ouimet’s absence, Ms. Carlson asked if another committee member would like to lead the meeting. Seeing no volunteers, Ms. Carlson proceeded with the agenda.
Development of Application Review Criteria: Ms. Wood informed committee members that 43 applications had been received totaling 1,640 acres of solid set grove and 388 acres of resets in an established grove. While previous discussions had set an estimated 2,000 acres available for solid set planting and 240 acres available for participation in resets, with Board of Director concurrence, funding and guidelines could allow variations in those numbers to accommodate the all projects proposed and recommended. All of the applications have been assigned anonymous identifies to protect the identity of applicants during the selection process.
Ms. Carlson explained that the TWG would need to establish selection criteria for the submissions received during the initial round of CRAFT applications. It was determined that the best way to proceed would be to formally establish sub-groups that would each look at the applications that selected specific testable element groups and establish criteria within those subgroups. The following groups and members were established and group leaders were elected to communicate with staff regarding feedback and any additional information needed:
Group 1 (Scion/Rootstock): Batuman, Graham, Hodges and Page
Group 2 (Soil/Tree Fertility): Eyrich, Graham, Morgan
Group 3 (Pest Management): Batuman, Hodges, Ouimet
Group 4 (Biostimulants): Eyrich, Scully, Shatters
Group 5 (Tree Density): Morgan, Ouimet, Riley, Rogers
Resets: Page, Scully, Shatters
If any information is missing or if groups require additional information to properly review applications, Ms. Wood will reach out to applicants to gather those details.
The members broke into the smaller work groups to develop the criteria for full TWG approval related to their testable element, review applications within their groups and request any additional information in preparation for the meeting of the full committee on Monday, October 21, 2019 where applications will be fully reviewed for recommendation or next steps.
Review of Submitted Applications: Ms. Carlson presented one sample application for discussion and review by the TWG, and flagged issues and questions seen that required future resolution. After a quick review, it was determined that the application spreadsheet would need to be supplemented to include the makeup tree rootstock/scion combinations , . Ms. Wood will add this information to the spreadsheet and share it with the committee members as soon as possible. It was also recommended that for applications with multiple and possibly competing test factors to move forward, leaders of the Groups might meet together at some point to resolve experimental design issues to maximize the benefits of the research.
Seeing no further business, Ms. Carlson concluded the conference call to allow the individual groups to continue their discussions.
Minutes submitted by Tamara C. Wood, Secretary