Jay Chism joins the Center from MU Extension

The DeLine Community Research Site is a nearly 100-acre plot of land used as an outdoor classroom

The Center for Agroforestry holds 13th Annual Agroforestry Symposium 

The Center for Agroforestry is holding the 13th Annual Symposium on Thursday, Jan. 20. The theme for this year’s event is Food, Fire, & Agroforestry for the Future: Ecological Knowledges for Climate Resilience. For more information and to register for the event, go to the Center for Agroforestry’s website. 

Changes for NSF and NIH 

NSF developed new forms for Biosketches, current and pending support.  Prior versions are no long acceptable.

Biosketches are now three pages long and provide more space to list publications. Visit the NSF site for more information. 

Current and pending forms now require that major goals and any overlap are to be listed. More information available on the NSF site.  NIH changed the biosketch format and the other format, effective January 24, 2022.

Biosketches are now to list positions in reverse chronological order. Current and past support are no longer allowed to be listed. For more information, visit the NIH funding information page.

The Other Support form can be found here.

NIH will no longer accept URLs in proposal documents unless specified in the funding opportunity, with the following exceptions

• The link to the full list of your published work in the Biographical Sketch
• In the Bibliography/References Cited and the Progress Report Publication List, citations that are not covered by the Public Access Policy, but are publicly available in a free, online format may include URLs or PMIDs along with the full reference
• Active hyperlinks are not allowed

What is your research focus?

My research focuses on the agritourism sector in Missouri with a particular emphasis on risk management and food safety. The risk factors and risk management issues linked with the agritourism activities need to be addressed timely. The current COVID-19 circumstances have heightened the demand for rural tourism activities and more and more acceptance of the local food systems. In this scenario, these two areas need to be given much attention. My research findings will enable the sector to understand better the agritourism visitor’s needs, perceptions and satisfaction related to these areas.

Why does this field interest you?

I was enthusiastic about agriculture from early on as I grew up on our family farm in India that grows spice crops. As I grew older, tourism overtook agriculture as the number one industry in Kerala, India, where I’m from. This also opened up endless possibilities for agritourism and I wanted to pursue my doctoral research in this field. Linking tourism to agricultural activities has been accepted worldwide and has obtained significant repute in the last decade. It has been known as farm-based tourism or agritourism in different parts of the world.

Why did you decide to come to Mizzou?

When I decided to do my doctoral program, I had shortlisted a few Universities based on my research. Unquestionably, Mizzou was on the top of the list. Considering the factors like the world-class research and a pool of expert faculty made me choose Mizzou. The hospitality program I belong to is one of the best in the country. After three years, I can proudly say that I made the right decision.

Who is your advisor?

I am immensely blessed to be mentored by Dr. Dae-Young Kim. Dr. Kim supports me to develop each day in academics and research and invariably motivates me to become a better researcher. For this semester, I am co-teaching one of the classes with him. I submitted three competitive research grant proposals under his supervision, and two of them were funded last year. This year, we are working on two side projects and my doctoral dissertation research, which I am always passionate about. Dr. Kim also encourages me to participate in various conferences and other professional meetings representing our department. He enables me to collaborate with other external researchers, strengthening my research and collaboration skills. Even though Dr. Kim’s lab is one of our division’s largest ones, he provides individual care and attention to all the graduate students. He ensures his students are successful as professionals even beyond graduation.

What are your future career plans?

My goal is to pursue my career in academia, emphasizing both research and teaching. Someday, I would see myself mentoring students of my own.

Dain Jacob Receives the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship

Dain Jacob, doctoral student in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, has received the prestigious American Heart Associate (AHA) Predoctoral Fellowship. The purpose of this fellowship is to enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising students who are in a predoctoral or clinical health professional degree training program. Jacob is a doctoral student in the Limberg lab.

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

Eric Bailey, Use of novel probiotic in feed supplements offered to immature beef calves on pastures, CHR Hansen, 1/10/2022-12/31/2022, $149,212

Deborah Finke, The value of cover crops for belowground insect pest management via the soil microbiome, National Inst of Food and Ag, 1/1/2022-12/31/2023, $120,000

Kiho Lee, TET3-CXXC domain is essential for orchestrating epigenetic status during early embryogenesis in pigs, National Inst of Food and Ag, 12/22/2021-12/31/2024, $650,000

Martha Obando Ortega, Genetic contributions of the female oocyte competence and embryo development in dairy cattle, National Inst of Food and Ag, 1/1/2022-12/31/2023, $300,000

Ronald Revord, Accelerating marker-trait association studies in chestnuts, National Inst of Food and Ag, 12/1/2021-11/30/2025, $563,626

Pavel Somavat, Evaluation of conventionally bred colored corn varaties as a viable source of phytochemicals with diverse agro-industrial applications, National Inst of Food and Ag, 12/21/2021-1/31/2025, $299,959

Jianfeng Zhou, Improve the safety and health for women farmers by adapting farm tools and equipment, University of Minnesota, 11/1/2021-12/31/2024, $249,995

Need an immune boost? Missouri poised to be elderberry bellwether of Midwest

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Off-season ‘cover’ crops expand as U.S. growers eye low-carbon future

Reuters

Q&A with Rob Meyers of the Center of Regenerative Agriculture

Farm Journal

Making cover crops pay off: what it takes to cover the cost

Agri Pulse

Saving the planet by saving the soil: Can cover crops fulfill their promise?

Agri Pulse

The feature photo shows soybeans that the soybean breeding team at the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center are conducting research on. The project is to determine the repercussions of declining test weight on seed composition and value. The experiment consists of two planting dates, both harvested at maturity and four weeks post maturity.