In February 1991, the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors adopted strategic planning as the centerpiece of its philosophy of operation. The first edition of the Southern Strategic Research Plan was published in August 1992, following extensive interaction among members of the Southern Association in several workshops.

Since then, the Strategic Planning Committee and its six planning groups have had pivotal roles in determining the investment strategy for the regional research activities of the Southern Association. Thus, the plan has been put to use as a principle document for action. In the intervening time, the region's research activity portfolio has shifted and now follows very closely with the plan.

The second edition of the plan was published in December 1994. The Strategic Planning Committee solicited input from advisory committees (comprised of department heads) and conducted two workshops in 1993 to get input from the Southern Region on the national strategic research plan developed by the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP). These inputs formed the basis of the Southern Strategic Research Plan, which closely reflects the national strategic plan.

Conforming to the schedule of development of the national strategy, this document, called the Mid-Term Update, provides a reassessment of needs and priorities half-way through the four-year cycle on which the strategy is prepared.

In addition to placing a Southern spin on the national strategic research plan, this document identifies a set of 16 research opportunities for the Southern Region which are more specifically targeted and identified for action by the Southern Association and its membership.

The Southern Association's priorities for the initiatives in the national plan were established through voting, with one vote per SAES in the region. The result is a rank ordering of the initiatives in the SAES-USDA Strategy and a similar ranking of the Southern research opportunities in terms of their national and regional relevance respectively.

Special thanks are extended to Ms. Lynette James in the Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Communications, who served as editor for this document. Thanks are also extended to Ms. Toni Bland in the Executive Director's Office for her efforts in developing the document.

Richard L. Jones
Chair, Planning Committee

D. C. Coston
Chair, Southern Directors