Graduate student Jermayne Smith has been researching the effects of remnant and restored prairies on small mammal and tick diversity

CAFNR research enterprise goes from bench to barnyard — from very basic to applied research that helps farmers and ranchers.

DASS Presents Engaging 4 MO Webinars

On Wednesday, March 9, from 10 to 10:30 a.m., an introduction of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center from Sarah Low, director of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center, associate professor of regional economics and Fred V. Heinkel Chair in Agriculture, MU Division of Applied Social Sciences. Register for the webinar here.

CAFNR Research Council Webinar Series

The CAFNR Research Council presents two upcoming webinars:

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, 3:30 p.m.
Water Center Update (Watch on Zoom)
Baolin Deng, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Damon Hall, Assistant Professor, SNR & Biomedical Biological and Chemical Engineering

Thursday, March 10, 3:30 p.m.
Multi-State Projects: What, Why and for Whom (Watch on Zoom)
Christina Hamilton, NCRA Assistant Director, and Jeff Jacobsen, NCRA Executive Director

Celebration of Excellence Nominations Now Open 

Nominations are now open! Consider nominating your colleagues for teaching, advising, research, staff, Extension, Mumford, Mitchell and Deaton awards by March 1. There’s a new, streamlined nomination process. Visit the Celebration of Excellence section for nomination and submission information.

CAFNR Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (C-DRIG) 

C-DRIG supports dissertation research projects proposed by doctoral students in the College. Eligible students will have completed their coursework and have advanced to candidacy or will advance to candidacy within six months of the C-DRIG awards. The application deadline is March 15. More information can be found on the CAFNR Office of Research page. 

CAFNR Matching Assistantship Program (C-MAP) 

CAFNR desires to increase the number of PhD students and postdoctoral research scholars to strengthen these AAU metrics and to further strengthen the CAFNR research community. As an initial step, CAFNR Office of Research is pleased to announce the CAFNR Matching Assistantship Program (C-MAP) to support efforts of CAFNR faculty to attract highly competitive PhD students. CAFNR will release two calls annually for the competition for C-MAP. More information about C-MAP can be found on the CAFNR Office of Research Page.

What has been your international involvement? (Research, projects, mentoring, other activities?)

I began my international work by volunteering to provide training on invasive insect management in West Africa through the CAFNR International Programs. I visited Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal in 2019 to attend and present at workshops focusing on fall armyworm and invasive fruit fly management. I also participated in a train-the-trainer event for border inspectors that demonstrated insect sampling techniques. These activities eventually led to a collaborative research project in Ghana that evaluates insecticidal nets for controlling fall armyworm. Eventually these international collaborations led to my recent position as Biopesticide expert for their Minor Use Foundation. This position has led to collaborative research trials in 30 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. We are currently evaluating biopesticides to replace conventional insecticides towards the end of the season with the goal of reducing pesticide residue levels that prevent international trade.

 Why is it important to you to pursue international activities? What do you enjoy about it?

I enjoy the collaborative nature of these large projects that require working with multiple government officials, scientists, and local growers. Some of the more labor intensive IPM strategies that use less conventional pesticides are adopted in other regions due to economics.

How do you work with CAFNR International Programs?

I continue to work closely with CAFNR International Programs, including providing training materials, and workshops in West Africa. I am currently collaborating with CAFNR International Programs with hosting a Borlaug fellow from Cambodia and a visiting scientist from Morocco.

ORCID IDs – Link all your research activities in one place

Federal funding agencies are increasing the use of Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) identifiers and in some cases, it is listed as a requirement. ORCID is a ‘unique, persistent identifier free of charge to researchers’(ORCID.org). By using the ORCID ID, a researcher can link their research data to their profile and thereby create a trackable ORCID record shareable with funding agencies, publishers, data repositories, and other research workflows.

For example, the SciENcv tool which applies to both NSF and NIH submissions integrates with ORCID, enabling proposers to populate their Biographical Sketches by importing data directly from their ORCID records rather than having to manually enter all the required information.

Register for your ORCID ID here: https://orcid.org/register. It’s a simple process and will only take a few minutes.

For more grant writing tips, reach out to CAFNR Grant Writers Patience Okiring at okiringp@missouri.edu and Sheryl Koenig at koenigsh@missouri.edu.

Craig Paukert Wins Fisheries Excellence Award from the North Central Division of American Fisheries Society 

Craig Paukert, cooperative professor in fisheries and wildlife, received the Fisheries Excellence Award through the North Central Division of the American Fisheries Society. This award is given to a North Central member who has made outstanding contributions to the fisheries profession. This contribution may be a single activity or a collection of achievements over the individual’s career.

Liakat Ali Awarded the 2021 Outstanding Papers in the Plant Genetic Resource Division of the Crop Society of America

Liakat Ali, a research scientist at the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center soybean breeding program, has been awarded the 2021 Outstanding Papers in the Plant Genetic Resource division of the Crop Science Society of America. The paper is titled Enhancing the searchability, breeding utility, and efficient management of germplasm accessions in the USDA-ARS rice collection. 

Foundation for Soy Innovation awards 2021 scholarships

Morning Ag Clips 

2022 WalletHub Economic Index: Pei Liu

WalletHub

How to properly care for the newborn calf

Morning Ag Clips