Since he started promoting eating Asian carp as a way to reduce the environmental impact to Midwestern waterways from these invasive fish about four years ago, Mark Morgan has received many calls and emails from folks with suggestions of their own on reducing the population. One call caught his attention a few years back, and just this fall, all the…
Innovative Thinking ⋅ Page 2
Picking Through the Feed
Graduate student searching for pigweed in bird feed
Finding the unique ways that weeds can spread has become a calling card for the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Division of Plant Sciences’ weed science program. For the past year, graduate student Eric Oseland has dug through more than 60 bags of bird feed, looking for which weed seeds show up in the various…
Adding Another Tool
Drones are becoming more common in agriculture
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), such as drones, are becoming more and more common in the world of agriculture. Over the years, the rules and regulations have become more clear and defined – meaning the potential uses for drones in agriculture continues to grow. The University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources has found a handful of ways…
Entrepreneurial Experience
CAFNR alumni Doug and Emily Kueker inspire students to be entrepreneurial
Agricultural Education alumni Doug and Emily Kueker shared their experience of creating and sustaining their learning solutions business with CAFNR students. The Kuekers visited campus last fall to serve as Professors-for-a-Day as a part of CAFNR’s Reich Executive-in-Residence Program. They spoke in four classes in the Departments of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Agricultural Education and Leadership, and Science and Agricultural…
Navigating New Waters
New software developed by biochemistry researchers could greatly enhance image, video analyses on many platforms
Principal component analysis (PCA) is nothing new. In fact, the math for PCA processes, in which a large amount of data can be categorized or compared by discovering distinct patterns in such fields as spectra and microscopy, has been around since Steven Van Doren, professor of biochemistry, was an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University double majoring in biochemistry and computer…
Getting Social
Jared Decker uses social media channels to educate beef producers
University of Missouri Extension specialists put a strong focus on interacting with Missouri producers, farmers and ranchers. Jared Decker, a beef geneticist, is taking that interaction one step further. Decker has put forth extra effort on several social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and message boards. He uses those channels to promote his blog, A Steak in Genomics. The blog…
Filling in the Gaps
MU Center for Agroforestry to train high school teachers on agroforestry curriculum
The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry has a major focus on outreach. With its online program, graduate certificate and Agroforestry Academy, the Center for Agroforestry works hard to promote the many facets of agroforestry to a wide audience. One group who the Center for Agroforestry has been researching on how to more efficiently reach is high school students. With…
Going Deeper Into Precision Agriculture
MU Agricultural Systems Management program offering new Precision Agriculture Certificate
For more information about the MU Precision Agriculture Certificate (undergraduate or graduate), email our office at MU FSB ASM Info or call us at 573-882-6454. The University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Agricultural Systems Management program has put forth a strong effort to talk with industry leaders to see what they expect Mizzou graduates to…
The Potential of Pennycress
Greenley Research Center seeing positives with pennycress
The United States Department of Agriculture approached Western Illinois University’s Win Phippen in 2009 with a simple bottle of seeds. The USDA thought those seeds had some big potential. The seeds were field pennycress. Phippen, a professor of plant breeding and genetics, has been studying the crop ever since. WIU created a plant breeding program specifically for pennycress in 2009.…
At the Forefront
Biochemistry senior class becomes first undergraduate teaching lab to use state-of-the-art beamline for X-ray crystallography
Only one word sums up what Kyle Stiers felt when the first crystals started to grow: “Relief.” The now second-year biochemistry doctoral student had spent close to a year working behind the scenes to ensure that a new portion of a senior capstone class involving X-ray crystallography and protein structural analysis — using the state-of-the-art Advanced Light Source synchroton 4.2.2 beamline…