***Sorry to those of you who have already received this message – this time it is being sent to a wider audience***

Dear Rosaceae crops genomics, genetics, and breeding community,

To help focus our community during the upcoming Rosaceae Specialty Crops Planning Workshop (RSCPW - say three times fast!) in East Lansing, June 22-23, we solicit your input for core ideas for a full CAP proposal to USDA-NRI. Note that this is a US funding opportunity and must have clear outcomes for the US. However, international collaborations are welcome, especially those that leverage existing resources and expertise.

The Workshop foremost will be a community-building effort, bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders in the future of Rosaceae crop improvement. At the same time, we will seek to develop strategies for practical application of genomics to provide positive outcomes for industry and society. One channel for such strategies is through individual project proposals that are aligned with community objectives (White Paper and Roadmap). Another is on a broader scale via an Applied Plant Genomics Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) through the USDA-NRI. To show development as a community, and to have any chance of getting funded at the CAP level, we need consensus - we all need to get behind something! A CAP project will involve many institutions across the US and abroad. No CAP proposal will cover all of our needs - that's a reality that our diversity entails. But any funded RosCAP would be a massive boost to us all, and a stepping stone to so much else we want to achieve. In the end, a successful RosCAP requires that we all get behind a single idea to spearhead applied genomics in Rosaceae.

Our workshop duration is short, and our experience, expertise, and opinions diverse. The RSCPW steering committee agrees that would be useful if we entered the meeting with some ideas for CAP proposals in hand. This would save time during the proceedings and give all participants the chance to consider these various ideas prior to the workshop and to prepare for further discussion. It enables active community members to be active, requires nothing further from less active members, and will provide solid foundations to build a CAP proposal with wide community involvement.

We do not intend to put the cart before the horse. It is understood that before, during, and after the workshop we will be discussing obstacles and opportunities for applied genomics in Rosaceae. Some of you will raise valid points that have never before been thought of by the rest of us. All of this will be considered, and we must keep our ideas open for such input. However, we increase our chances of coming out with a clear strategy and make greater gain if we start the workshop with some core project ideas in mind - circulated widely before the workshop, to be discussed during the workshop.

Details for core idea submission:

The outlines should be short - 2 pages maximum.

To enable dissemination to the rest of the community before the workshop, they must be submitted by Monday 11 June. Submit to the RSCPW core idea coordinator, Cameron Peace via email: cpeace@wsu.edu

Use the following headings:

Working title

Objective(s)

Synopsis

Alignment with US White Paper and Roadmap

Supporters

You should consult the USDA-NRI 2007 RFA (http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/pdfs/07_nri.pdf, pp34-39) for the scope and particulars of a CAP proposal, and read up on successfully funded CAPs.

White Paper, March 2006: http://www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/gdr/community/rosexec/RosWP_March_2006.doc

Roadmap, February 2007: http://www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/gdr/community/rosexec/documents/USRosEXEC_Roadmap_0207.doc

I don't see why individual people can't support multiple core ideas at this stage, so if you think of or hear of more than one potentially useful core idea, put your name down on each. But remember that in the end, there can be only one CAP proposal from our community.

The expectation of the RSCPW steering committee is that ideas will be hatched, discussed among colleagues to refine details and garner support, written in the above format, and submitted by Monday June 11.

Shortly thereafter, I will distribute your core ideas, on behalf of the RSCPW steering committee, to Rosaceae participants of the workshop, so that each idea can be considered and discussed by this wider audience in the week before the workshop, and then used as foci and jumping-off points for discussion during the workshop, both informally and formally. We can refine, amalgamate, or discard ideas as we go. During Day 1 of the workshop, speakers may refer directly to the pros or cons of a particular core idea. During Day 2, our discussions will be more focused and can directly refer to the merits of these suggested core ideas, putting us ahead in developing our strategic plan and implementation plan. This will greatly help us achieve Workshop Deliverables 2 and 3.

Workshop deliverables:

1) We will develop a final workshop report to summarize the outcomes of the discussions…

2) A strategic plan for development of "science to the marketplace" for Rosaceous crops to guide individual future funding efforts in the community.

3)  A community framework for a CAP in Rosaceae that can be translated into proposals to relevant agencies.

If you have any other comments/ ideas/suggestions for workshop consideration that are not formalized as a core idea in the above format, you are strongly encouraged to submit them in the web form hosted on the GDR (http://www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/cgi-bin/gdr/gdr_crops_planning_workshop_input_form.cgi). These comments will be compiled and made available as part of the workshop packet that will be disseminated prior to the workshop, and presented at the workshop within planned discussion sessions.

Cameron Peace, on behalf of the RSCPW steering committee