Agriculture & Food Systems Institute

“The cfo, general counsel, and chief executive officer review the return. Once it is in its final form, a copy is sent electronically to the board of trustees for review.”

“The chief executive officer, trustees and key employees complete conflict of interest forms on an annual basis. Completed conflict of interest forms for the trustees and chief executive officer are reviewed by in-house counsel, whose observations are shared with the chair. In the event that a conflict should arise on the part of a trustee, the chair (or if the conflict involves the chair, another disinterested trustee) will communicate with the interested trustee to determine the nature of the conflict and whether the trustee should abstain from deciding on matters affected by the interest. The disinterested members of the board of trustees have the authority to remove the trustee with the interest from consideration of the matter to which the interest pertains. Conflict of interest forms, completed by the chief executive officer, are reviewed by the chair and another independent trustee who will intervene if a true conflict should arise. Conflict of interest forms completed by key employees other than the chief executive officer are reviewed by the general counsel and by the chief executive officer, who has responsibility for managing any conflicts declared by the key employees.”

“In 2008, the agriculture & food systems institute board of trustees amended the by laws to establish a formal process for setting executive compensation in accordance with the internal revenue service safe harbor regulation regarding excess benefits. Under this procedure, the chair appoints a compensation committee composed of three independent trustees to review the compensation of the afsi chief executive officer. The review includes consideration of comparability data. The compensation committee establishes a range of compensation that the committee deems reasonable. Agriculture & food systems institute 52-1323610 the agriculture & food systems institute chair sets the chief executive officer's compensation at a figure that is consistent with the ranges established by the compensation committee. The compensation committee records their decision in contemporaneous written minutes in accordance with the irs safe harbor regulation with regard to excess benefits. The compensation committee is only required to perform the compensation review described above with regard to compensation of the chief executive officer. However, the committee has the discretion to perform such a review with regard to any afsi employees as it determines appropriate. If the compensation of an afsi employee other than the chief executive officer is not determined in accordance with the procedure described above, his/her compensation is set by the chief executive officer in accordance with high-to-low ranges established by the director of human resources in cooperation with the chief executive officer. The compensation review for the chief executive officer and any other afsi employee subjected to compensation committee review does include a review and approval by independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision. Compensation of employees who are not subject to such a review is established by the chief executive officer, who is independent of the employees, and it is normally based on a review of comparable compensation in nonprofit corporations of the same size in the washington, dc area. The process by which compensation is set is documented in writing, but this is not done in the same formal manner as review by the compensation committee.”

“Governance documents including the conflict of interest policy are posted on website.”

“The agriculture & food systems institute (afsi) is a non-profit organization that advances and disseminates science for public benefit. Our mission is to achieve safe and sustainable agri-food systems by providing thought leadership and creating a collaborative environment that fosters scientific innovation across disciplines, sectors, and geographies.”

“In 2024, afsi continued its strong programs in support of agricultural innovation and regulation for public benefit. Highlights and accomplishments for the year include: as part of the south asia biosafety program (sabp), afsi organized the "conference on genome editing for agriculture in bangladesh" on february 11, 2024 in dhaka to raise awareness about the publication of the "standard operating procedures (sop) for research and release of genome edited plants of categories sdn-1 and sdn-2,2023," attracting 129 in-person attendees. Afsi organized the workshop "bolstering asean food security through partnership and cooperation on agricultural biotechnology" in jakarta, indonesia on march 4-6, 2024, which was hosted by the asean secretariat and supported by the united states department of agriculture (usda) and the department of state. All 11 asean member and observer states were represented, with 44 total participants sharing their expertise and exchanging ideas. Supported by a grant from the usda foreign agricultural service (fas) emerging markets program (emp), afsi organized the "environmental risk assessment workshop: non-target organism testing," in cooperation with the usda agricultural research service (ars), iowa state university, and corteva agriscience, on june 24-28, 2024, for eight participants from the usa, indonesia, nigeria, and kenya. Afsi implemented the "workshop on moving forward on agricultural biotechnology through continuing efforts on regulatory cooperation in apec" on august 14, 2024 in trujillo, peru, prior to the apec hlpdab plenary meeting. The full-day in-person event welcomed over 40 participants, representing canada, chinese taipei, indonesia, japan, the republic of korea, malaysia, mexico, peru, the philippines, russia, thailand, vietnam, and the usa. During the event, a draft of the policy approaches document for regulatory cooperation on agricultural biotechnology (pad)was presented to participants, along with its companion website (biotechpolicyportal.org), both of which afsi will continue to work on in 2025. Afsi organized on the fourth training event in the workshop series "gene edited plants: context and communication for plant breeding innovation" on december 10-11, 2024 in daejeon, south korea. Spanning two days, "enabling regulatory environment for genome editing in agriculture in south korea: opportunities & possibilities" brought together a diverse set of 52 stakeholders working on agricultural biotechnology in south korea, including scientists and experts from the public and private sectors.”