NC Ginseng Association Minutes - 6/20/13

[Chris Watson]

Below are the meeting minutes from Thursday's meeting. Attached are the letter from Mountain Rose and their specification sheet.

Have a great week,

Chris

NC Ginseng Association Meeting Minutes:

 June 20, 2013 2-3PM

 Madison County CES Center

Attendees: Chris Watson, Robert Eidus, Carrie Berry, Ed Fletcher (via phone)

 

Old Business:

 Mission Statement – Steven Neuliep

This is what we decided on, from Steven with a minor change from Ed (changing ‘commodity’ to ‘specialty’ crop) .

 “To establish ginseng as a specialty crop in the state of NC and to promote the production, distribution and marketing statewide, regionally and internationally."

Confirmation of mailing address – Jenn Beck – No update

Vote on Secretary -  Carrie nominated Chris Watson for Secretary, Ed seconded. Vote passed. Chris nominated Carrie for Treasurer, Ed seconded. Vote passed.

Robert brought up the need to have an annual meeting date and it was decided that early August would be best, before the harvest season. We will state in our articles of organization that we will meet on or around August 1^st. Monthly meetings will take place on the third Thursday of each month. Next meeting July 18 at 2pm in MCES Center Conf. room.

 

New Business:

Marketing for Mountain Rose – Robert Eidus

                Review letter from Brian Russell – see attached letter from Mountain Rose. Robert will draft a letter to Brian saying thank you and that we are working on pricing(need to talk collectively as growers)  and other issues. Ed brought up the need to check the Lacey Act to make sure a permit isn’t needed to ship plants across state borders, especially if under 5 yrs.

Robert brought up the point that if we are working as a group/cooperative what does it mean in terms of who is in the association? Are there dues to join? Cost/profit sharing? Need to develop the association model. Everyone was to think about it and we’ll discuss further at July meeting.

 

NCDA contact for Commodities Association – Robert Eidus – No update

 

USDA Rural Development Grant for Cooperatives. – must be in by July 15^th. 

Robert and Chris to work on getting one written. Possible funding for testing equipment, processing equipment, marketing, organizational fees… Robert is going to ask Dewayne Barton to be on the board to help with the grant process.

NEXT MEETING: July 18^th at 2pm at Madison CES