About Us

The Board on Agriculture Assembly: Structured for Success

 

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) represents 251 public universities and is comprised of various commissions, boards, and sections. One of the most prominent and legislatively active APLU organizations is the Board on Agriculture Assembly (BAA), which represents the interests of land-grant colleges of agriculture and natural resources and related institutions.

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BAA Structure

The BAA is comprised of five sections: (1) Administrative Heads Section; (2) agInnovation (formerly Experiment Station Section); (3) Cooperative Extension Section; (4) Academic Programs Section; and (5) International Agriculture Section.

 

Management of the BAA falls to its 10-member Board of Directors.

The BAA Board of Directors (formerly Policy Board of Directors/PBD) takes appropriate action on key matters affecting the interests of the member institutions and of the Assembly and is responsible to APLU for the management of Assembly affairs.

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The BAA has three standing committees that report to the PBD:
 

• Budget and Advocacy Committee (BAC)
  The BAC responsible for the preparation of an annual budget recommendation for those matters relating to agriculture and related areas that are of special concern to the member institutions and for coordinating the presentation of these recommendations to the BAA Board of Directors in a timely fashion. The BAC also will work with the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) and undertake the necessary and appropriate advocacy activities to effectively implement the budget recommendations adopted by the BAA Board of Directors. The BAC communicates these budget recommendations to the APLU Council on Governmental Affairs, federal agencies (including the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of Management and Budget), U.S. House of Representatives and United States Senate, and other individuals and groups as deemed appropriate by the BAC
   

• Committee on Legislation and Policy (CLP)
  The CLP is responsible for coordinating all activities of the Board on Agriculture Assembly (BAA) as it relates to Farm Bill legislation and other legislative and/or regulatory activities of interest to the BAA. This includes: developing and implementing strategies in the initial development of the legislation; coordinating a support base for initiatives development by the CLP as the legislation moves through the Congress and/or the Executive Branch; and, monitoring and impacting subsequent programs and regulations that are authorized in the legislation.​
  
  The voting membership of the Board on Agriculture Assembly's Committee on Legislation and Policy is representative of the diverse agricultural interests served by the Board on Agriculture Assembly. 
   

• Communications and Marketing Committee (CMC)
  The CMC oversees and guides the educational effort to increase awareness of the land-grant universities’ agricultural and related programs, Agricultural Experiment Stations, and Cooperative Extension Services. 

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The BAA also has a corps of about 125 citizen advocates from around the country who are appointed by their respective land-grant deans and directors. This group — the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) — meets once a year in Washington, DC, in a joint session with the Administrative Heads Section.