I am pleased with how many of our CAFNR projects and initiatives have progressed this month.

On Wednesday, July 11, our strategic planning consultants visited Columbia to meet with CAFNR leadership and the guiding coalition during a day-long retreat. They presented survey findings to the group, sparking robust conversation about our priorities. We will use this input to develop goals, action steps, and metrics to accompany our priority themes in the pending first draft of our strategic plan. Our college-wide BBQ to roll these goals out to faculty and staff has been moved from Aug. 14 to Thursday, Sept. 20. Please mark your calendars to join us; we will share more details as the date approaches.

I am thrilled to announce that our first “big idea” as part of our drive to distinction is now officially underway! We have partnered with the Missouri Agricultural Foundation to study the status of food, beverage and timber manufacturing in the state. Ultimately, the goal is to identify how Missouri might best proceed with efforts to expand these industries and stimulate economic development in Missouri communities. To help Missouri agriculture achieve greater economic impact, our commodities must be transformed in-state to products that consumers desire. The Foundation recently received a $200,000 Missouri Value-Added Grant for the study, which will be conducted by TEConomy Partners LLC; work is already underway, with the final report expected by December. The project is also supported by USDA Rural Development; the CAFNR Foundation; Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council; Missouri Beef Industry Council; MFA, Inc.; Missouri Farm Bureau; Missouri Corn Merchandising Council; and Missouri Pork Association – truly a state-wide collaboration.

Summer Welcome has (mostly!) wrapped up for our Academic Programs Office (APO) for this year. So far, CAFNR has welcomed 497 new students, a 14.5 percent increase from this time last summer when we welcomed 434 students. We will welcome additional students during a final Summer Welcome session in August. I am excited by the upward trend of our enrollment numbers and the hard work APO has put in to get to where we are today!

Field Day season will soon be underway at our Agricultural Research Centers. It is a great time of year as we bring hundreds of landowners and students to our centers across the state to learn about important research. Our centers are each tailored to the local crops, soils and climate that is so varied across our state – they are a wonderful resource for local farmers and natural resource managers. I like to say that they are the “front porch” of the University of Missouri to the state. I am proud to announce that CAFNR is offering a giving match for the first time for gifts to our Research Centers over the entire Field Day season (Aug. 1-Oct. 31). CAFNR will match donations directed to any of the CAFNR Research Centers up to $500 per donor. Donations can be made online by visiting the Mizzou Give Direct site and entering the Research Center of choice in the search tab, or in person during each field day event. See the calendar for our 2018 Field Day season online.

This summer I had the chance to present at a few community events – and even visit with our amazing emeriti faculty members. It has been wonderful to meet so many people who are interested in and proud of what we are doing here in CAFNR. I spoke at the Tiger Place on Friday, July 13, and showed residents a fun way to make ice cream – with liquid nitrogen! I was honored to be the featured speaker at the Boone County Ham Breakfast this past Saturday, July 21, as part of the Boone County Fair festivities. What a crowd! It was a great opportunity to connect with so many dedicated community members. Then the next day, Sunday, July 22, I hosted a reception for our emeriti faculty members. It is so important to keep these wonderful folks engaged in what we are doing here in CAFNR – they helped us get to where we are today, and they can certainly be a big part of where we are going. I invited them to stay engaged with us through projects, including our upcoming 150^th anniversary celebration in 2020 and by mentoring new faculty members.

We are all working hard and progress is being made. Please join me in supporting our efforts to continue CAFNR’s drive to distinction.

CAFNR Proud!

Christopher R. Daubert
CAFNR Vice Chancellor & Dean

96 percent of CAFNR undergraduate students rated their academic advisor as “excellent” on CAFNR’s annual assessment of advising, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year.

Don’t Miss
Dean’s Roaming Office Hours, 3 p.m., Tuesday, July 31, Buck’s Ice Cream.

Did You Know?
The CAFNR Student Development Plan is an online tool that provides students a wide variety of resources to become academically successful and career ready. The Plan was developed, in part, to support several of the Strategic Enrollment Management goals which include increasing student retention and graduation rates along with ensuring that 95 percent of undergraduate students are employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation by 2023. The Plan is divided into three main components of academic and career-readiness related to student development. Students can check off items as they complete them, see success strategies they may not have considered, and discuss their development with their academic advisor. CAFNR students and faculty/staff with undergraduate advisees can access the plan by going to cafnr.missouri.edu/studentplan and entering their Pawprint and student password.

Save the Date
Upcoming Executives-in-Residence:

• Tyne Morgan, Host, U.S. Farm Report: Sept. 18-19 (to include taping of the U.S. Farm Report on Sept. 19 from campus, location TBD)
• Craig Bacon, Senior Vice President of Technical Services for Simmons Prepared Foods: Oct. 10-11
• Kellie Bray, Senior Director of Government Affairs, CropLife America: Feb. 20-21, 2019

Scholarship Recognition Dinner, Sept. 19, 5:30-9:30 p.m., Reynolds Alumni Center

CAFNR Ag Unlimited, Feb. 23, 2019, Capitol Plaza Hotel, Jefferson City