Minutes: 18th September, 2008. 2005
Minutes of the Board meeting held on
Thursday September 18, 2008 at GRDC Canberra
In attendanceJoe CoadChairman
John HarveyDirector
Hugh Roberts Director
Chris ColeDirector
Will GolsbyDirector
Alan Bedggood NVT Manager
Neale SuttonNVT Operations
Item 1Apologies and welcome to the new director
There were no apologies for this meeting. Will Golsby was introduced and welcomed to the ACAS board.
The unanimous decision was made to suspend the Annual General Meeting until the next scheduled Board meeting on Friday 21st November, 2008. All directors have expressed concerns with the situation of the historical accounts, and want them re-audited before the AGM to clarify any discrepancies.
Item 2Minutes of the meeting held on May 14,2008
Minutes from the previous meeting were seen as true and correct.
Moved: John HarveySeconded: Hugh Roberts
Item 3Business Arising From Minutes
Hugh Roberts has expressed concern with Action 4, relating to the excessive funds that ACAS hold. This issue was discussed further under Item 6, the ACAS Finance Report.
Regarding Action 6, it has been decided that NVT will not link directly to the Plum Grove websitefor access to their Gross Margin Calculator. ACAS will now work on the development of its own program instead.
Regarding Action 8 and global liability cover, until we can come up with an example of how Monsanto or the likes could take us to court, no cover will be needed. Any variety trialled in Australia will need to be submitted through an Australian agent, therefore removing the need for international cover. To ensure this is correct, the jurisdiction in the participation agreement will need to be checked. The insurance provider will also need to be informed of the changes to the board.
Item 4Actions from previous meetings
Outstanding Actions
Action 1:Development of promotion material for the NVT website:
The majority of NVT results have been loaded onto the NVT website in PDF format for faster access. There is now the option of modifying the front page of the website to put more of a focus on the Australian map and the information available through the website, not the online database.
NVT user-guides and promotional material has been sent to all trial managers for distribution at field days.
Action 2:Commission a protocol for conducting a NVT GM trial:
As Agrisearch are conducting all the NVT GM trials, we are accepting their protocols for conducting GM trials. The Victorian government are also commissioning protocols for conducting GM trials. These might be in place for next year so there could be the option of having multiple GM trial service providers in 2009, each with their own set of protocols.
Action 3: Monitor Developments in the Wheat Classification process, and for ACAS to be prepared to respond at short notice to any changes.
Submissions for tender have been called for by GRDC and ACAS are prepared to submit their tender by the due date of Friday 26th October, 2008.
Action 4: Create a documentoutlining the source of excessive funds in the ACAS budget and submit to GRDC. Documentation identifying alterations in the NVT 2007-2008 budget expenditure is to be created and submitted to the ACAS board for approval. These changes will also need ratifying by GRDC.
After much deliberation, ACAS have decided to rectify all financial accounts dating back to the beginning of the project, to clarify any discrepancies in budget figures. The new financial figures will then be sent for auditing before the next AGM.
Action 5:Look into sourcing Variety Gross Income Calculator program from Daily Grain or Kalyx to add to NVT website.
The Variety Gross Income calculator will not be sourced from Daily Grain or Kalyx to add to the NVT website. NVT will develop their own program for adding to the website. This action has been taken off hold and it’s aimed to have the tool developed in time for next season.
Action 6:Notify ASIC about changes to the personnel on the ACAS board.
Completed. A transfer fee and late fee totalling $540.00was charged by ASIC.
Action 7: Formerly respond to Lindsay Cooks audit of service providers.
The individual audit report documents have been supplied to each service provider to allow remedial action to occur on recommendations.
A List of recommendations from the Audit reports has been created. Many of these have been adopted or incorporated by the service providers concerned. There are several recommendations that require follow up action.
Documentation of the recommendations and actions required (or adopted) is to be presented to the Board at the next meeting.
Actions from May 14th meeting:
Action 1:Create a document containing our thoughts and movements towards running wheat classification, in the coming two months. This will need to be flexible enough to cover any options and obstacles thrown at us. Contact Cindy Mills from AWBI for direction on where to head in preparation for if tenders are called for.
Completed.
Action 2:Create a ‘disclaimer’ or ‘caveat’ page to add to the web site for users to see before they can view long term MET results. This page will outline the method of analysis used when determining the long term MET results.
This “disclaimer” page has been added to all PDF forms containing trial results on the NVT website. It was decided to hold off adding this page to the online database as it was seen to be an additional hindrance in the already confusing (to some) task of accessing results through the database.
Action 3:Approach the ACAS auditor, express our views that we have a budget and carry-over problem, and find out all the necessary action to undertake.
This action has been merged into Outstanding Action 4. ACAS have decided to rectify all financial accounts dating back to the beginning of the project, to clarify any discrepancies in budget figures. The new financial figures will then be sent for auditing before the next AGM.
Action 4:Contact Chris Melham for an official letter of resignation. Remove Jo Curkpatrick as an office holder.
Complete
Action 5:Seek legal advice on what are our risks of having an action held against us from a jurisdiction outside of Australia.
Complete. Until we can come up with an example of how Monsanto or the likes could take us to court, no cover will be needed. Any variety trialled in Australia will need to be submitted through an Australian agent, therefore removing the need for international cover. To ensure this is correct, the jurisdiction in the participation agreement will need to be checked. The insurance provider will also need to be informed of the changes to the board.
Action 6:Amalgamate ACAS Operations and NVT Report to one item and called CEO’s report. Keep the Financial report separate.
Complete.
Action 7:Have the GST component of the ACAS budget investigated to ensure that we are paying the proper GST, PAYG etc. Use the auditor to check this.
Complete. Waiting on feedback from auditor, further input will only be required if the auditor find discrepancies.
Action 8: Demand write access to particular parts of the database. Move away from Eclipse to save time and money. Look into providing the database codes to another player, to build modules that can be added.
This action has been cancelled. It was decided that having write access to the database leaves us exposed to errors in the database. Write access is no longer required.
Item 5Correspondence
There has been no general correspondence since the previous meeting.
Accounts for payment has been the only correspondence.
Item 6ACAS Finance Report
Firstly, the management of the financial records continued well under Neale Sutton’s control while Alan Bedggoodwas overseas until July 24.
However, the preparation of the 2007-08 financial report for the Auditor was delayed by Alan’s absence. This was exacerbated by Alan’s immediate travelling to Melbourne for functions including the NVT Management Committee meeting on July 31 and attending 5 RAC meetings. The financial records have been submitted to the auditor but unfortunately the Auditor’s report was not available for this meeting.
The discrepancy with the financial records and returns to GRDC has been identified. The issue has arisen by the fact that several payments from the 2003-04 year were not received until the 2004-05 financial year. These payments were also from the old NVT project but were absorbed into the current NVT project. The amount of money identified by ACAS as carrying into the current CAS00001 project was understated by these payments.
The amounts received from GRDC each financial year have been recorded correctly and adjustments made accordingly for the final balance. However, there has not been a reconciliation made at the end of each financial year to the final amount negotiated for the CAS00001 budget, this being $436,118.00 each year. The cash management for 2007-08 has identified this budget discrepancy.
The additional funds available, along with savings in the Communications area of the NVT annual budget, means that ACAS will have a budget surplus for 2007-2008.
The amount requested for the final payment (along with the June 30 milestone report and the audited financial records) will be adjusted accordingly.
2008-09
The Milestone payment for June 2008 has yet to be received. The invoice cannot be sent until receipt of the auditor’s report for the 2007-08 financial year. The $350,000 cash at hand at June 30, 2008 will see ACAS in good stead until the first payment of the new financial year of the Services agreement due after October 30. There are no large Eclipse expenses before the end of October. These have been the problem in previous tight fiscal periods.
Expenses for July have been moderate, with total Expenses of $23,588.
August expenses will also be not too bad at $67,300.
Expected expenditure for travel will be the only not routine expenses expected before the end of October.
Discrepancies in the ACAS financials have been carried over from 3-4 years ago. The accounts have been moved to Horsham and a local accountant has been adopted to help overcome these problems. Monthly accounts and budget figures are now running smoothly, but there is still the error carrying over from 3-4 years ago.
ACAS need to protect themselves against “gifting back” the additional funds to GRDC. There is the option of creating a more commercialised agreement with GRDC to for growth and expansion within ACAS. Business will carry on as normal until all discrepancies in the previous accounts have been rectified, then a decisions will be made on how to deal with any excess money if there is any.
The Insurance budget figures for 2007 financial year were $30,000. In reality, $9,000 was spent. USA insurance coverage was budgeted for but not required.
The budget for 2008-2009 has been adjusted by Alan and figures indicate that we will spend $700,000 instead of the full $850,000. This lower figure is mostly due to the reduced expenditure in IT.
As the NVT review is coming up, a new contract will need negotiating for the coming year. We also need to ensure that we are meeting all the requirements of the GRDC services agreement. ACAS are currently getting paid for what we spend, not what we deliver.
Substantial savings in expenditure have been made of the past few years and there have been some enormous improvements in efficiency and cost saving. This fact should be highlighted in the NVT review. Management costs have been reduced while development costs have increased.
Motion to accept the budget.
Moved: John HarveySeconded: Hugh Roberts
Item 7 - NVT Report
NVT
Alan Bedggoodleft Australia on June 12 for an overseas trip, both working and for a holiday. Neale Sutton managed the operation aspects of the program very well. The season was very dry after the sowing rains in May. However, rains in later half of June saw the trials pick up and continue. However, many require spring rains to complete satisfactorily.
Some trials visited in central NSW will not be harvested as the just adequate May sowing rains did not allow for an even emergence of plants. Subsequent June rains allowed a second germination and so the plots in some canola trials are exceptionally uneven (Narromine and Gilgandra).
The National Wheat Breeders forum was held in Melbourne on July 29. Amongst a busy program, this forum was mostly to allow an interaction between the Australian wheat breeders and the new wheat export marketers in the new deregulated system. There were 11 marketers who presented to the forum. It was very disappointing that many of the delegates from the newer marketers did not remain at the forum after lunch when the breeders made their presentations.
IT
The Data Import tool has now been tested and found to be satisfactory, as far as it goes. It will successfully import a full data set at one time. However, it will not allow subsequent data to be loaded against existing trials. The NVT database does already have the capacity for subsequent data import but only for one trial at a time. A further request will be to allow bulk data importing against existing trials, something that will make the process easier for managing breeder trials. However, the data import tool has now been used to compile all of the 2008 Field pea trials from Pulse Australia ready for import. These trials have been successfully imported into the UAT – the User Advanced Testing computer in Mark Luckey’s office.
The trials from Lentil and chickpeas are next to be prepared By the end of September, it is hoped to also obtain the Faba bean and Lupin trial structures and have them prepared for loading.
Change requests have been made for the reporting area of the database. However, these are most cosmetic and will be managed within the Support and Maintenance budget.
The NVT Website is progressing well. The adjustments made so far have been met with approval by all that have been exposed to it (RACs, Horsham TopCrop staff). Now, the front Home page needs modification to reflect the use of the website and to allow recent updates to be readily highlighted. More focus on the Map of Australia links to reports needs to be made.
The new method of presenting the results of the NVT long term analyses is being developed. There are several methods developed so far and it is probable that all will be used in the first instance. These will be best explained at the Board meeting with an accompanying PowerPoint file.
NVT Management Committee meeting
This meeting was again a well attended and productive meeting dealing with mostly operational aspects of the NVT program. The Action items from the meeting were few and dealt mostly with routine things like breeders sending seed that is chemically untreated, breeders to send site audit responses to ACAS and to remind breeders to send information relating to their entries to aid in field day presentations.
Other areas discussed at the meeting included the NVT review, handling tiny tag (temperature logger) information, the GM trials in progress, reminder to add more covariates to trial information and comments for biometricians, creating and uploading mud-maps, etc.
RACs
GRDC was requested to attend the Qld RAC meetings as there were several issues raised, one of which was NVT. The fact that QDPI circulated that they were not producing a Wheat Varieties Guide for 2009 and that Qld pathologists did not accept the disease ratings from SARDI also added reasons for GRDC to defend their position.
I think that the NVT presentation at all 3 central Queensland RAC meetings met many of the concerns raised about NVT and also addressed some of the other issues.
Alan Bedggoodalso attended two further RAC meetings at Gilgandra and Narromine. These were less controversial but nevertheless, the presentations alleviated the concerns raised by the participants. Certainly the progress in presentation of information from the NVT web site rather than the database has been very well received.
METs
The long term analyses or the METs are now presented to the industry in a new format. They are presented as the yields of varieties in a range of Trial Mean Yields. This information was presented to the Board in a table form for canola some time ago.
The challenge now is to present this information in a way that the grower and advisors that might use NVT can understand and make informed decisions from.
A PowerPoint slide show has been created at a first attempt in this direction.Perhaps a more professional version can be purchased.