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get your views and your concerns before the people that will make those changes. We can’t do this without YOU! I know there are hundreds of groups and organizations asking for your time and money. We have an incredible board and advisors that volunteer their time and talents to advance the cause of aquaculture in this state. We believe we offer valuable savings on workshops, discounts on other organization’s activities as well as this informative newsletter. We ask for your support so we can continue to represent all who want to be, or are actively involved in aquaculture in Ohio. For this Bicentennial year I would personally like to see if we could get 2003 O.A.A. members. Please Help In This Goal, Bob Calala |
OAA President, Bob Calala |
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NCRAC – What it means to Ohio Aquaculture? By Bill Lynch |
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As some of you already know, I was elected this past
November at the annual Ohio Aquaculture Association Banquet to serve as
the OAA’s representative to NCRAC. The OAA will be well represented at
NCRAC in the upcoming year as I join OAA Member Chris Bennett on NCRAC’s
Industry Advisory Council. Chris was chosen as a Member-at-large by
NCRAC but represents Ohio aquaculture nevertheless. Additionally, Laura
Tiu, from the Piketon Research & Extension Center, sits on NCRAC’s
Extension Technical Sub-Committee. And if that’s not enough, Steve
Baertsche of OSU is a member of NCRAC’s Board of Directors. I was
involved with NCRAC for four years while working in OSU’s Aquaculture
Program so I’m not walking into this organization blind and oblivious
to how it works.
Okay, so what is NCRAC? NCRAC stands for the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center. It is one of five regional aquaculture centers administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service. The mission of these Centers is to support aquaculture research, development, demonstration, and Extension education to enhance viable and profitable U.S. aquaculture that will benefit consumers, producers, service industries, and the American economy. Whew! NCRAC administratively serves 12 north central or Midwest states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. NCRAC annually administers a research and Extension budget of around $750,000 to accomplish the above mission in the North Central Region. How does NCRAC work? It is basically composed of three groups. The first group is the Board of Directors. They have final approval over all administrative decisions, including goals and priorities as well as the spending of research and Extension dollars. Who makes up the 11-member Board? Four members are from NCRAC’s Industry Advisory Council (IAC) and two members are from the Technical Committee. Michigan State and Iowa State each have a Board member as they are the two administrative universities responsible for NCRAC. One member represents the Agricultural Experiment Station Directors from the region, another represents the region’s Cooperative Extension Service Directors (currently Steve Baertsche of Ohio State Extension). Finally, the last member represents aquaculture-oriented, non-land grant institutions in the region. The second group is the Industry Advisory Council (IAC), which is made up of producers or folks from closely related industries. This is the group Chris and I will serve on. This group is instrumental in determining the research & Extension priorities for funding each year. Please note: universities / researchers by themselves don’t determine the research priorities which is so often the case in many funding scenarios. The decision making process at NCRAC is producer-driven! Researchers have |
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