MACAA NEWSLETTER  June 2001

**2001 Extension Specialist Research Tour, June 28 & 29**

 I hope you did not miss this message from Melvin.  He has worked hard to pull this together even though the budget for this program is tight. This was a great meeting last year so plan to come. Please RSVP to Melvin at the number or e-mail below. 

This year’s research tour will begin with registration at 12:30 p.m. on June 28, 2001 at the Bradford Agronomy Research center.  The tour wagons will leave promptly at 1:00 p.m. and the tour will continue until 4:00 p.m.  The Bradford Farm tours and updates will include crop fertility, weed control, plant diseases, plant breeding, soil compaction, forages and horticulture crop research projects.

A walking research tour will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will include invited guest representing agriculture organizations and agencies that support the efforts of UOE, CAFNR and the Research Station.  The evening BBQ, MACAA (MO Association of County Agriculture Agents) Agriculture Leader Award presentation and evening program will follow the walking tour.  The evening speaker will be Lowell Molher, Director of MO Department of Agriculture. 

The MACAA spring meeting and breakfast will be at 7:00 a.m. on June 29 (Cost $7.00, please contact Mary Sobba for meal tickets).  The Livestock Research tour begins at 9:00 a.m. at South Farms and/or the Animal Science Center and should conclude about 1:00 p.m.  If you plan to attend, please RSVP to me by June 26 so that final tour arrangements (wagons, meals, etc.) can be made.

Budget limitations have required that we make some adjustments in travel reimbursementIt will be necessary for you to share hotel/motel rooms as much as possible, so that lodging can be reimbursed in full.  You also need to pool travel as much as possible.  Any funds left after lodging is reimbursed will be allocated to cover as much mileage and travel meals as possible 

We regret very much the budget limitations on travel.  Please try to understand and cooperate by sharing and reducing expenses.  John Gardner, David Baker and Mike Chippendale support and believe in the importance of this event and along with Tim Reinbott have made every possible effort to obtain and stretch funds so that it can be done.  They deserve our thanks for their efforts  Hopefully, everyone will cooperate and the actual out-of-pocket cost of attending will be minimal. 

It should be emphasized again that these tours are for all agriculture specialists, not just livestock or agronomy specialists, to keep us informed and aware of agriculture research being conducted at the University of Missouri. 

Melvin Brees
Farm Management Specialist
660-248-2272

 

National Meeting

 The national meeting in New Mexico will soon be coming up.  If you are planning on going please let me know by email.  Let me know if any spouse or children are also attending.  It is very helpful to know who is planning on attending. 

 2000 SALARY ANALYSES OF STATE EXTENSION SERVICE POSITIONS RELEASED

 The 2000 salary analyses for state extension service professional employees in various position categories have recently been completed.  Salary data used in the analyses is based on the information received from each organization and has been put into the Cooperative Extension System (CES) Personnel Information System database. 

The 2000 Salary Analyses Report is available for review and downloading from the following website: http://www.reeusda.gov/hrd/hrdmob.htt Select the link to the 2000 Salary Analyses Report   It is a little hard to compare in some areas due to the differences in job descriptions and appointments.

THINK AHEAD

 I recently reviewed the entries in the NACAA Awards program.  While I discovered several regional winners, we need to be thinking ahead about entering in as least two of the areas to showcase your programs.

Missouri Members have many excellent programs going on that need to be recognized.  We also need to look around us and encourage our coworkers to enter their work in the awards program.