Drafts prepared by TP Tomich Director, Agricultural Sustainability Institute ASI tptomichucdavis.edu

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Drafts prepared by TP Tomich Director,
Agricultural Sustainability Institute
(ASI)tptomich_at_ucdavis.edu6 July 2007

• Below please find rough drafts for discussion
• ASI mission statement
• ASI vision
• ASI operational principles
• Additional key words for consideration for ASI
  operational principles and core values
• ASI external stakeholders
• Timeframe for ASI strategic planning and
  consultation
• ASI strategic planning process
• These draft materials were prepared for
  discussion and feedback.
• Comments and suggestions are welcome on any and
  all drafts.
• Please send comments and suggestions by July 27th
  to
• Jim Brenner, ASI Process and Strategic Planning
  Consultant
• jsbrenner_at_ucdavis.edu

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• Rough draft for discussion and feedback
  comments and suggestions welcome (TPT 07/06/07)
• ASI mission statement
• The Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI)
  links initiatives in sustainable agriculture and
  food systems across all divisions of the College
  of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC
  Davis, across the University of California, and
  with other partners across the State of
  California.
• ASI exists to
• shape a forward-looking agenda for research,
  education, communication, and engagement to
  support action on big, emerging issues in
  agriculture and the food system. ASI will
  establish and maintain communication channels
  that will create meaningful roles for
  stakeholders in identifying sustainability
  challenges and helping to find practical
  solutions.
• integrate research, education, communication,
  and engagement activities across this evolving
  agenda as our understanding develops in all
  dimensions of sustainability of agriculture and
  the food systemplant and animal science,
  environmental and natural resource stewardship,
  social and economic issues.
• provide a focus for related national and
  international initiatives. question of global
  role
• assemble interdisciplinary teams to design,
  seek funding, and implement major sustainability
  science projects, hosted and managed by ASI.
• contribute to curriculum development and
  host? a new undergraduate major at UC Davis, in
  particular provide expanded opportunities for
  experiential learning at the Student Farm and
  through internships and other means
• lead engagement and effective science-based
  communication with a diverse clientele, including
  all segments of agriculture across a diversity of
  scales and systems, agricultural labor and rural
  communities, and bridging the rural-urban
  interface.
• ASIs roles in discovery, learning, and
  engagement
• Discovery identify scientific principles and
  practices that enhance sustainability of
  agriculture and the food system.
• Learning educate students in science-based
  sustainability principles and practices, exposing
  them to a variety of viewpoints on questions that
  remain controversial.
• Engagement for impact assist Californians (both
  urban and rural) in understanding and
  implementing sustainable food and agricultural
  systems and sustainable resource management.

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• Rough draft for discussion and feedbackcomments
  and suggestions welcome (TPT 07/06/07)
• ASI vision
• California leads the world in science, education,
  and action to address emerging risks and seize
  new opportunities to enhance the economic,
  social, and environmental sustainability of
  agriculture and the food system.
• In support of this vision, imagine an
  Agricultural Sustainability Institute that
• looks ahead a decade or more to anticipate big
  issues and to set an agenda for sustainability
  science, education, and action on those issues
  starting now.
• identifies emerging, scientifically-valid
  innovations and helps move them from the margins
  to the mainstream.
• produces results to meet the needs of the
  people of California.
• creates recognition and rewards for
  sustainability science, educational innovation,
  and collaborative engagement and outreach
• helps re-invent the Land Grant heritage for the
  21st Century.
• Imagine that ASIs agenda is driven by concerns
  and aspirations of stakeholders representing the
  diversity of California.
• Imagine ASI as a safe space to convene
  stakeholders with differing (even conflicting)
  views
• to deepen understanding.
• to build consensus for action.
• to support public discussion where no consensus
  yet exists.

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• Rough draft for discussion and feedbackcomments
  and suggestions welcome (TPT 07/06/07)
• ASI operational principles
• Legitimacy ASIs evolving agenda and priorities
  will be driven by concerns and aspirations of
  stakeholders representing the diversity of
  California.
• Spanning boundaries ASI serves the entire state,
  including North and South, rural and urban, and
  all segments of agriculture across a range of
  scales and production systems
• Science in the public interest transparency in
  governance and priority setting open access to
  data, results and information accountability to
  stakeholders
• Respect for different perspectives ASI is a
  scientific institution, but also recognizes the
  value of knowledge embodied in experience on
  farms and ranches both of established families
  and of newcomers -- in communities, in industry,
  and in policy arenas.
• Seeking consensus, while respecting differences
  of opinion participants in ASI activities must
  conform to a common set of ground rules,
  including respect for different viewpoints and
  reliance on scientific methods and evidence
• Usefulness responsiveness to users needs is key
  to the relevance of ASI initiatives and provides
  necessary focus on real issues and opportunities.
  
• Opportunity seeking ASI will contribute to
  identifying problems, but also actively seeks
  solutions and new opportunities
• Empirical indicators will be based on users
  needs
• Active approach to social learning feedback,
  monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment
  will be embedded in overall design of ASI
  activities
• Credibility ASI will conform to the highest
  standards of scientific objectivity, integrity,
  and rigor
• Broad, multidisciplinary scope balanced
  integration of economic, environmental, and
  social dimensions of sustainability
• Spatial and temporal integration activities will
  span multiple scales ranging from molecular to
  global past, present, future -- but also will be
  grounded in field-level production realities
• Open inquiry ASI promotes critical analysis to
  challenge conventional wisdom and to expand
  scientific understanding of technical,
  institutional, and policy options.

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Rough draft for discussion and feedback --
comments and suggestions welcome (TPT 07/06/07)
ASI principles / core values some additional
key words for consideration and discussion

• Have fun
• Urgency act fast
• Add value work differently, be results-oriented,
  seek real impact
• Effective communication
• National, international, global?
• Also see principles of community of UC and UC
  Davis e.g. http//principles.ucdavis.edu/

• Think big
• Participation
• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Diversity
• Partnership
• Teamwork
• Future generations
• Invest in people

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ASI external stakeholders (a partial list) (TPT
07/06/07) -- comments and suggestions welcome --

• Young people
• Environmental organizations
• Master gardeners
• Food retailers
• Chefs, restaurants, institutional food services
• Equipment designers
• Auditors and certifiers
• Press and other media
• Think tanks, futurists
• Donor consortia, philanthropists
• Health professionals
• Banks, insurance companies
• Animal welfare groups
• others suggestions welcome

• Farmers and ranchers
• Farm workers
• Researchers
• Educators
• Regulators, policymakers ( other public
  officials)
• Industry professionals
• Consumers
• Community organizations
• Note this column is from a list of those
  served by SAREP several categories span very
  wide ranges

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• Timeframe (tentative) ASI strategic planning and
  consultation
• January May 2007 exploratory meetings with
  many different types of stakeholders
• June 2007 recruitment of part-time (40) senior
  consultant for six months to design and
  coordinate intensive stakeholder consultations,
  assist in conducting those consultations and in
  eliciting views from a full range of stakeholders
  as input to ASIs strategic plan. Formation of
  team (including student assistants and support
  staff) to backstop the consultant.
• August 1-2, 2007 first staff retreat to consider
  input received so far from stakeholders on key
  thematic issues and to revise drafts of vision,
  mission, operational principles, and cores
  values. These drafts will be circulated to
  stakeholders for more input.
• September 2007 second staff retreat to consider
  additional input received from stakeholders, to
  update mission, vision, principles, and values
  based on that input, and to move onto the next
  steps in drafting the strategic plan. As before,
  these drafts then will be shared with
  stakeholders for further input as part of the
  ongoing consultations.
• October or November 2007 a multi-stakeholder
  meeting for detailed presentation, feedback, and
  review to develop a final draft of the strategic
  plan. In addition to finalizing a draft of the
  strategic plan, this multi-stakeholder meeting
  also will focus on institutionalizing the ongoing
  ASI consultation with a range of stakeholders and
  to establishing mechanisms for public
  accountability and governance structures to
  ensure the usefulness and legitimacy of ASI
  programmatic choices. Proposals for structure
  and composition of formal ASI advisory boards
  will be an output of this meeting. Once again,
  these drafts then will be shared with
  stakeholders for further input as part of the
  ongoing consultations.
• January 2008 (tentative) inaugural joint meeting
  of ASI advisory board(s) and affiliates advisory
  committees ASI strategic plan presented for
  discussion and possible approval. Activities for
  the balance of the academic year depend crucially
  on the outcome of this meeting.

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ASI strategic planning process (with extensive
consultation)

• Bottom half of strategic plan
• Strategic mapping -- How are we collectively
  going to change the world over the long term? Big
  issues and opportunities, impact pathways,
  strategic partnerships
• Goals, activities and outputs -- Specific goals
  and strategies for discovery, learning,
  communication, engagement and accountability in
  each case, what do we hope to learn? (hypotheses
  to be tested)
• Organizational structure and functions -- What is
  the purpose of each permanent unit? How will it
  contribute to goals and priority activities? How
  do they all fit together?
• Resource requirements -- people, funding,
  facilities, etc.

• Top half of strategic plan
• Priority issues and opportunities (a first cut!)
• Vision -- In what ways do we want the world to
  adapt or change? Conversely, what do we want to
  enhance?)
• Mission -- What is our contribution to achieving
  that vision?
• Operational principles -- How do we operate?
  Mechanisms to assure credibility, legitimacy,
  usefulness.
• Core values -- Why do we do what we do? What
  guides our day to day work?