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CAFNR Research Digest
CAFNR Office of Research Newsletter // Jan. 9, 2025 // 7(1)
Feature Story
DASS faculty launch fellowship program to grow public utility policy scholars (click to read)
DASS faculty launch fellowship program to grow public utility policy scholars »

Regulated Utilities Leadership Institute aims to foster academic-industry collaboration and mentor emerging researchers through a $250,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant.

Division of Applied Social Sciences faculty members Adrienne Ohler and Michael Sykuta are leveraging a $250,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create a fellowship program to connect early-career energy economics researchers with energy industry partners while fostering more academics in the public utility policy analysis space.

“The goal is to create an ecosystem of people who are doing applied policy analysis work,” Sykuta said of the program.

The fellowship program, named the FRI Utility Policy Fellows program, is under the umbrella of CAFNR’s Financial Research Institute (FRI) and aims to bring four early-career energy economics scholars to campus for a weeklong research workshop in conjunction with FRI’s Regulated Utilities Leadership Institute. While at Mizzou, the Policy Fellows will work with industry leaders and attend a full agenda of sessions with topics like data resources, economics techniques and guest lectures by established energy policy scholars.

Research Highlights
Center for Agroforestry hosts 16th Annual Symposium on agroforestry as a crucial ecological restoration strategy (click to read)
Center for Agroforestry hosts 16th Annual Symposium on agroforestry as a crucial ecological restoration strategy »

The 2025 Agroforestry Symposium: Working Lands for Restoration and Harvest will feature insightful and intersectional voices on the realities of landscape-scale transformations made possible when agroforestry practices are designed for simultaneous conservation, restoration and production goals. The Symposium is free and open to the public and will be held Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, with options to participate in-person at the SHSMO Center for Missouri Studies or virtually via Zoom. Registration is required for all participants.

From the CAFNR Grants Office
United Soybean Board Proposal Deadline

New grant proposals to United Soybean Board are due Feb. 3. Any faculty submitting to the United Soybean Board directly or as a subrecipient to another entity must email Jeri Lou Zimmerman, CAFNR Grants Office director, as soon as possible to avoid issues meeting this deadline.

Call for Proposals: CAFNR Programs of Distinction

CAFNR has existing research, teaching and extension programs that are nationally and internationally recognized. In order to highlight the recognized strength of existing or future programs, we established criteria for Programs of Distinction to recognize select programs that exemplify CAFNR’s Drive To Distinction. CAFNR’s Programs of Distinction, together with our academic programs, define our impact on Missouri’s agriculture and natural resource economies while providing a roadmap for how CAFNR addresses grand societal challenges. Visit the Programs of Distinction webpage for more information.

The call for proposals for this year’s competition is now open. Please check your email for additional information. You may reach out to your division director or the CAFNR Office of Research if you have any questions.

Proposals must be submitted by Feb. 15, 2025.

Research Roars

CAFNR faculty members have received the following recent grants (listed by Principal Investigator):

Ron Revord, DNA Fingerprint development for identification of elderberry cultivars, Missouri Department of Agriculture, 1/1/25-6/12/26, $49,957

Henry Nguyen, Climate-adaptive soybean: root architecture and plasticity tuning for nutrient capture and stress resilience, United Soybean Board, 10/1/24-9/30/25, $444,968

Tim Reinbott, Identifying Soil Health Deficiencies in Soybean Production To Develop a “One Health” Sustainable Soybean Production System, United Soybean Board, 10/1/24-9/30/25, $248,004

Katherine Nelson, Irrigation at the new 100th Meridian: Adaptation to manage climate risks and preserve water resources in the Eastern Kansas River Basin, Kansas State University (NIFA), 8/22/24-5/14/26, $13,068

Craig Paukert, Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation 2024, Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation, 9/28/24-9/27/25, $50,000

Michael Sunde, High-resolution Urban Heat and Flood Risk Mapping to Support Transportation Resiliency and Natural Resources Planning in the St. Louis Metropolitan Region, East-West Gateway Council of Government, 7/1/24-6/30/25, $20,000

Chase Floyd, Comparison of conventional pesticide application and inverted lay-by drop nozzles for control of damaging pests in Mid-south cotton, Cotton, Inc., 1/1/25-12/31/25, $8,500

Henry Nguyen, Improving Soybean Flood Tolerance for Sustainable Production, United Soybean Board, 10/1/24-9/30/25, $297,638

Feng Lin, Develop and Deliver the Best Management Practices and Soybean Cultivars to Minimize Yield and Quality Losses from Cercospora Leaf Blight, United Soybean Board, 10/1/24-9/30/25, $35,999

Jianfeng Zhou, Improving soybean production, seed quality and soil health using digital agriculture technologies, United Soybean Board, 4/1/25-3/31/26, $182,436

Bongkash Vardhanabhuti, Re-imagining Soy Protein through Plant Breeding Innovation and Optimized Alternative Processing, Good Food Institute, 12/11/24-12/10/26, $246,178

Felix Fritschi, Northern exposure: Adaption of alfalfa for challenging winter climates, North Dakota State University (NIFA), 9/1/24-8/31/27, $179,992

Amy Petry, High Soyhulls Inclusion in Gestational Sow Diets: A Comparative Analysis to Improve Sow Survivability, Iowa State University (United Soybean Board), 10/1/24-12/31/25, $30,460

Deborah Finke, Companion Planting to Optimize Beneficial Insect Ecosystem Services in Pepper Cropping Systems, University of Minnesota (NIFA), 9/1/24-8/31/26, $19,792

Henry Nguyen, Yield Limitations of Soybean Varieties Under Drought: Identifying and Overcoming Weaknesses by Team Drought via Breeding, Genomics, Phenomics and Physiology, Agricultural Research Service (USB), 10/1/24-9/30/25, $52,860.00

Jasmine Neupane, Sensor-based Irrigation Management System (SIMS) in Grapes and Blueberries, Missouri Department of Agriculture (USDA-Ag Marketing Service), 11/1/24-10/31/26, $49,996

Feng Lin, Yield Limitations of Soybean Varieties Under Drought: Identifying and Overcoming Weaknesses by Team Drought via Breeding, Genomics, Phenomics and Physiology, Agricultural Research Service (USB), 10/1/24-9/30/25, $52,622

Morgan Davis, FAB-PGCs: Feedstocks for Advanced Biofuels from Perennial Ground Cover Systems, Corteva Agriscience (DOE), 10/1/23-3/31/25, $219,794

Jay Johnson, Use of nutritional and environmental enrichment to reduce sow aggression and improve welfare during late gestation, Kansas State University (National Pork Board), 10/1/24-9/30/26, $132,593

Chase Floyd, Monitoring the Susceptibility of Field Populations of Helicoverpa zea Using Sentinel Plots, Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technology Committee, 8/31/24-12/31/26, $32,400

In the News

Genetics work makes soybeans smarter
Missouri Farmer Today

Farmers key to carbon answers
Farms.com

MU researchers evaluating pig manure as corn fertilizer
Columbia Missourian

Agricultural weeds looking to claim upper hand in changing climate
Quincy Herald-Whig

Novel discovery could fortify defenses
Missouri Farmer Today

Have yourself a merry little kalanchoe
Muddy River News

Red Crown Rot: No Cure for This Soybean Disease
Farms.com

Economist says placements key area to watch in Friday’s On Feed numbers
Brownfield Ag News

Missouri Farm Bureau partners on rural energy
Missouri Farmer Today

Say Bah Hum Bug to Uninvited Tree Pests
Farms.com

Revival in the Bootheel
Cotton Farming

Bright outlook for hog farmers could spark expansion
Farm Week Now

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