CIGR Newsletter No 35
THE FUTURE OF CIGR IS ON THE AGENDA IN MADRID
Mark your calendar for Madrid, Sunday, September 22. This is where the CIGR General Assembly (GA) will convene. The Executive Board meets on September 21. Also several Section Boards will organise sessions in conjunction with the AgEng'96 International Conference.
This time many important issues will be on the agenda. First mentioned, and of considerable importance for the future functioning, is the election or re-election of Officers to the various functions in the CIGR Network. One is the election of a new Incoming President for the period 1997-98. The elected candidate will become Acting President in the period 1999 - 2000, and Past President in 2001-2002. So far there is only one candidature, namely that of Director and Professor Bill A. Stout of Texas A & M University, presently Professional Vice President of ASAE. His candidacy is supported by ASAE's Board. He is presented in this issue of CIGR's Newsletter. To obtain a continuous change of the Members of the Section Boards and of members in other positions too, around half of them are eligible for being re-elected or replaced every two years, as stated in our statutes. The Presidium has this time given a clear signal that we prefer "time-out" for members who were not active in their function in the past years. There are so many young, able and enthusiastic agricultural engineers around that we ought to give an opportunity to them to show what they can do. But we do not know them all. Let us get proposals sent in to our General Secretariat.
Even excellent people need some money. So does the General Secretariat for amongst others printing and mailing of this Newsletter. CIGR's membership fee system was made for a completely different situation and a different organisation than the present. It has to be replaced by a new fee system, the sooner the better.
The Executive Board has set up a CIGR Financial Task Force during its last meeting in June 95 to come up with a financial plan for CIGR, including fees. Based on their proposals there will be a recommendation put before the GA in September. The content is not clear yet, but opening CIGR Newsletter for advertising is among the inputs that are seriously considered. National Associations, member of CIGR, may then be given the option to sell advertising, as part of their payment.
You are likely to see another change to this Newsletter next year, too. Within Europe it will serve both CIGR and EurAgEng. This was decided by EurAgEng's Council in their end of March meeting in Alnarp, Sweden, in order to make necessary budget savings. In the meantime it is also clear that the English version of this Newsletter has had an average direct annual cost of about 4,80 USD/person with the present circulation. This compares reasonably well with the membership fees for most national membership societies, while it is beyond any sense for societies with more than 700 members. Continued circulation within Europe would have had to stop very soon if the co-operation with EurAgEng was not established in a satisfying way from next year on.
Or would the Newsletter be available on Internet only? It is there already, together with an increasing amount of other information about AE in general and CIGR in particular. Please use the web-pages, and report back to us about what you did not find (but would like to see there). We will appoint a group of young and able AEs to act as editorial committee and driving force for further development of CIGR's Electronic Network Service. Further development of the Calendar of Events to a full Conference Information and Booking Service is among the challenges. How do we send and collect money safely, so that we can put also paid services on the Net? Those interested to be on this committee, or those who know somebody who is, please send us an E-mail.
An open question for the GA in Madrid, and of major importance, is to find a new location for the General Secretariat after the 1998 Congress. We raise the question now, so that all of you have ample time to prepare a good proposal to come forward with. Who comes first?
Egil Berge
President
