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Signature Programs

The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources has five signature research programs that relate to critical issues identified at the state, regional, national and international levels in agriculture and natural resoures. Our pinpointed research areas have achieved national and international excellence in those selected areas.

Animal Reproductive Biology Group

The Animal Reproductive Biology Group is a multidisciplinary effort composed of scientists interested in mammalian reproductive biology. The group examines reproductive biology from the subcellular level to the whole animal in a variety of species, including farm animals, humans and model laboratory animals.

Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems

The Center for Applied Resource and Environmental Systems (CARES) is an intercollegiate research and education center that was established in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources in 1992. The mission of CARES is to help people and communities to better understand and address agricultural, natural resource, community, and environmental issues.

Center for Agroforestry

The Center for Agroforestry is an interdisciplinary program that draws on the expertise of MU faculty in forestry, fisheries and wildlife, entomology, plant pathology, agronomy, animal science, agricultural economics, rural sociology and horticulture. The Center coordinates agroforestry activities for use in Missouri and adjacent areas of the Midwest.

Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)

Since its inception in 1984, FAPRI-Missouri has encouraged effective agricultural policy through the development and operation of comprehensive analytical systems. These systems focus on the food and agricultural industries and impacts on the economy and environment. FAPRI puts a great deal of effort into maintaining the integrity of its analysis through extensive peer review by academic, government and industry experts.

Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG)

This interdisciplinary research and study program at the University of Missouri involves research teams from Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Forestry, Nutritional Sciences and Plant Sciences. This truly unique interdisciplinary environment brings together the approaches and tools of all of these disciplines to study plants and plant-related biological processes. IPG is a major part of the Food for the 21st Century Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

National Center for Soybean Biotechnology

National Soybean for Soybean Biotechnology

The National Center for Soybean Biotechnology (NCSB) is a collaborative program among scientists at the University of Missouri, USDA-ARS Plant Genetics Unit in Columbia, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. There are currently more than 30 researchers working together from diverse fields including agronomy, microbiology and plant pathology, biochemistry, animal science, food science, molecular biology and agricultural economics.

The Rural Policy Research Institute

The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Regional Competitiveness seeks to understand how regions compete in the global economy and how they can diagnose their competitive advantage. Its work is focused on four key areas: creating a competitiveness dashboard of indicators, developing regional diagnostic tools, building an innovation bridge to connect university innovation with the region that can best use it, and supporting new governance models which better align the public and private sectors in building competitive regions.