Program 2
A healthy, well-nourished population that has access to an adequate, safe, and secure food system.

Issue(s)
Stakeholder listening sessions held throughout the State of West Virginia during 1997 and 1998 have pointed out citizen concerns for their access to a nutritious, safe and secure supply of foods.

Performance Goal(s)
Increased consumer access to targeted agricultural and forest products of West Virginia that provide enhanced nourishment, greater assurances for safety, and better access through lower costs, added nutritional components, extended shelf-life, and better product distribution systems.

Output Indicators:

1. Better detection methods for food-borne illnesses (a).
2. Genetic and biochemical modification of locally produced foods (b).
3. Marketing and distribution research results for selected agricultural products (b).
4. Processing research results for extended shelf life of agricultural products (a and b).
5. Reduced losses of food and fiber to pest organisms (a).

Outcome Indicators:

1. Increased access to food for West Virginia consumers (b).
2. Greater consumer confidence in West Virginia produced and/or processed foods (a and b).
3. Reduced malnutrition in rural and urban poor populations (b).

Key Program Component(s): Research projects will focus on:

1. Enhanced safety for West Virginia’s agricultural products through detection and treatment;
2. Better market distribution methods, identified through economic and consumer studies;
3. Shelf-life-extending technologies applied through food processing and packaging;
4. Improved management of pest organisms.
5. In 1999, three Hatch and State projects address these issues.

Internal and External Linkages
Partnership will be continued with extension, federal labs, other universities, and the private sector, as appropriate to this performance goal. We will focus on shared responsibilities for the agreed research objectives of projects, and we will use joint ventures with industry to facilitate technology transfer, when appropriate.

Target Audiences
We will be focusing on the consumers of West Virginia produced agricultural products, with attention given to all citizens. When appropriate, special attention will be devoted to traditionally underserved sectors, such as rural and urban poor.

Program Duration
This program will continue for the five year life of this plan.

Program 3
Greater harmony between agricultural and forest practices and the environment.

Issue(s)
To be sustainable, any development strategy requires production practices that balance technologies that are both profitable and productive in the long term. All too often producers have too few options available to match economic necessity with environmental imperatives. Research strategies need to assure adequate options are available to producers for better decision making.

Performance Goal(s)
Increase technology options available to agricultural and forest producers in ways to support sustainable development.

Output Indicators:

1. Methods for animal waste management that protect the environment.
2. Agricultural harvesting and forest logging practices that are compatible with economic and environmental goals.
3. Production practices options for reducing over-reliance on chemicals.

Outcome Indicators:

1. Reduced water pollution attributed to farm animals.
2. Less degradation of land as a result of harvest practices.
3. More rational uses of agricultural chemicals by producers.

Key Program Component(s): Research projects will focus on:

1. New, alternative technologies for managing animal wastes;
2. Development of options for harvesting methods that are environmentally sound and sustainable;
3. Improved pest, disease, and soil nutrient management systems.
4. In 1999, a total of 18 Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, and State projects address these issues.

Internal and External Linkages
Partnership will be continued with extension, federal labs, other universities, and the private sector, as appropriate to this performance goal. We will focus on shared responsibilities for the agreed research objectives of projects, and we will use joint ventures with industry to facilitate technology transfer, when appropriate.

Target Audiences
We will be focusing on the most serious environmental problems of the State of West Virginia, as determined through local listening sessions, surveys, and through the College’s Visiting Committee (see below). As a consequence, selected environmental sectors will receive our attention, but the intention is to have the greatest impact possible, with our limited resources. Indirect benefits will accrue to all citizens of the State through an improved environment and sustained development of our State’s natural resources.

Program Duration
This program will continue for the five year life of this plan.

Program 4
Enhanced economic opportunity and quality of life for citizens and communities.

Issue(s)
Rural and urban communities need to have more options for economic development and quality of life improvement. Research is required that is both economically and culturally sensitive to the needs of traditionally underserved groups.

Performance Goal(s)
Increase the economic opportunity and quality of life options available to all citizens.

Output Indicators:

1. Technologies that expand family income streams.
2. Greater understanding of workforce limitations and constraints.
3. Better intervention methods for quality of life improvements.

Outcome Indicators:

1. Economically improved rural and urban communities.
2. Opportunities for reduced unemployment.
3. A more employable workforce.
4. Qualitative improvements in life quality for some previously underserved sectors.

Key Program Component(s): Research projects will focus on:

1. Supplemental income strategies, especially for low income families;
2. Better methods for characterizing employee skills and employer needs;
3. Improved methods to measure and assess the quality of life in West Virginia;
4. Alternative enterprises, e.g. tourism, aquaculture;
5. In 1999, a total of 14 Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, and State projects address these issues.

Internal and External Linkages
Partnership will be continued with extension, federal labs, other universities, and the private sector, as appropriate to this performance goal. We will focus on shared responsibilities for the agreed research objectives of individual projects.

Target Audiences
We will be focusing on the most economically disadvantaged citizens of our State. Particular attention will be given to the traditional underserved populations in our rural communities.

Program Duration
This program will continue for the five year life of this plan.

Stakeholder Input
Listening Sessions: Each year the Dean/Director and selected administrative staff and faculty will, in collaboration with West Virginia’s Cooperative Extension Service, hold six or more open-to-the-public, out-in-the-State listening sessions. The purpose of these sessions will be to gather stakeholder input and comments on past achievements, current activities, and proposed plans for our research programs. All listening sessions will be publicly announced through local and regional newspapers, appropriate newsletters, and through our county Cooperative Extension offices in that locale. To better ensure attendance by all populations, our special contacts with trade groups, commodity associations, agricultural and forestry suppliers, and state agencies will be used to request their assistance in extending invitations to the broadest possible community of stakeholders. A more complete discussion of our stakeholder input processes, along with a summary of findings and results from recent sessions, is found in the document A Practitioner’s Guide to Implementing the 1998 Farm Bill. The document may be viewed at http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/publications.html.

College Visiting Committee: In addition the College will continue to sponsor the College’s Visiting Committee. Membership on this council is purposefully balanced to represent the diversity of agriculture and forestry in West Virginia today, and consumers of those products. The membership will remain at the present size of 16. Meetings of the Visiting Committee will be semi-annual. Additional meeting may be called at the discretion of the Dean/Director. Additional ad hoc members may be added for any meeting, especially for an agenda that focuses on a special topic.

Both sources of stakeholder-derived information will be summarized annually in an annual report from the Dean/Director.

Merit and Peer Review
We adopt by reference, and make a part of this report, the National Standards for Merit and Peer Review.

Multi-institutional, Multi-disciplinary, Multi-state, and Integrated Activities
Extension. The West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station maintains joint appointments of certain scientists between the Experiment Station and Extension Service. These joint appointments greatly facilitate the identification of needs for the research programs as well as extension programs. In 1999, Research and Extension shared 11 scientists positions as follows:

The Director of the Experiment Station and the Director of Extension have monthly coordinating meetings where existing and potential activities of mutual interest are planned and developed. Stakeholder listening sections (see above) involve both research and extension personnel and issues relative to both are identified in these sessions.

Multi-institutional. Opportunities for collaboration with other colleges in West Virginia is somewhat limited. West Virginia University is the only doctoral degree-granting university in the state, and the only institution with a significant research faculty and facilities in the natural resources and agricultural sciences. Nonetheless, the West Virginia Land Grant Association, a partnership between West Virginia University and West Virginia State College, an 1890 institution, was formed in 1998. One of the purposes of the Association is to explore areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration in research and extension. We expect this partnership to identify areas of mutual interest where research and extension services to citizens will be expanded.

Multi-state. Our plan for fulfilling our obligations to the AREERA’s multi-state, multi-disciplinary and integrated activities are contained in the Northeast Coordinated Activities Framework, which may be viewed on line at http://aster.uvm.edu/rr/rrmantoc.htm. Accomplishments reporting on our multi-state, multi-disciplinary, and integrated activities for our Station will be through the annual Northeast impact statements and the Northeast results reports

Equal Employment Opportunity Reporting
West Virginia University’s published procedures for reporting Civil Rights compliance and Equal Employment Opportunity requirements, and the current AA/EEO approved plan for the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences, "West Virginia University. Affirmative Action/EEO Plan Summary, 1999. College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences", are adopted by reference as part of this plan. Reports for the University and the College are filed by the West Virginia University’s Office of the President to the U.S. Department of Education and must be in compliance with 41CFR60-2.13(a).