Plant Science and Technology

April 2, 2024

Bethany Bedeker Named Driver to Distinction

CAFNR Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert surprised Bethany Bedeker, cover crop outreach manager, with the Driver to Distinction award at the faculty and staff meeting March 21, 2024, for her tireless work engaging with farmers as part of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture.
Five students pose in front of mountains.

April 1, 2024

Mizzou Plant Sciences students see success at the National Collegiate Landscape Competition

For the first time, seven Mizzou students competed in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC) conducted through the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP).
Winners holding certificates

April 1, 2024

Biochemistry and Plant Sciences Students win awards at 2024 Midwest American Society of Plant Biologists Meeting

Four CAFNR undergraduates won awards at the 2024 Midwest American Society of Plant Biologists Meeting held at Purdue University.
a group of people standing under the college logo

March 14, 2024

Get to know Soyon Park

Wyss is the Student Success Communicator in CAFNR Marketing & Communications
Mizzou's historic columns

March 5, 2024

2024 CAFNR Joy of Discovery Seed Grant Program Winners Announced

The third batch of proposals funded by CAFNR’s Joy of Discovery Seed Grant Program has been announced. The Joy of Discovery Seed Grant Program supports nascent, collaborative, multi transdisciplinary research with the goal of developing a competitive proposal for federal funding. The following proposals were selected (listed by the PI, Co-PI/s and title of the project): Mandy Bish (Plant Science and Technology); Characterization of Soil Microbial Communities Across Ecoregions as a Step TowardsImproving Soil Health Indicators Gary Stacey (Plant Science and Technology), collaborator from Yeshiva University; Development of Novel Calcium Sensors Chung-Ho Lin (School of Natural Resources), Isa Kupke (School of Natural…

Feb. 27, 2024

Vadivelmurugan Irulappan
Golden-colored soybeans grow in a field ready for harvest

Feb. 27, 2024

Growing a legacy: Leading the way in soybean breeding

Over the past several decades, the soybean breeding program at Mizzou, which is part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ (CAFNR) Division of Plant Science and Technology, has emerged as a leader in the field. “The breeding programs at MU both here in Columbia and at the Fisher Delta Research Center are really known as the leaders in conventional and herbicide resistant cultivar development as well as understanding the genetic architecture of seed composition traits, soybean cyst nematode resistance, and abiotic stress tolerance among others” said Andrew Scaboo, assistant professor and soybean breeder in the Division of…
Soybean plants grow in a field

Feb. 27, 2024

CAFNR soybean breeding team publishes groundbreaking discovery in fight against the crop’s biggest pest threat

Soybean cyst nematodes are small, parasitic worms that live within the soil and attack nearby plants, and they are a particular problem for soybean farmers in Missouri and across the nation. There has mostly been only one genetic mechanism used to fight these pests for the last four decades, but a Mizzou soybean breeder’s team have unlocked a key to creating a soybean plant that holds the power of increased resistance within its DNA. “Soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) are the number one pest in soybeans,” said Andrew Scaboo, assistant professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology and co-leader…
Demi White

Feb. 22, 2024

Plant Sciences student Demi White selected as MizzouForward Undergraduate Research Training Grant Recipient

White, a junior majoring in plant sciences with a minor in microbiology, will be conducting an independent research project under the mentorship of Soyon Park.
A medium-skinned woman with long, black hair and brown eyes smiles. She is wearing a coral colored blouse and sits in a sun-filled cafe.

Feb. 21, 2024

Postdoctoral fellow spotlight: Q&A with Ranjita Sinha

What is your research focus?  My research is focused on understanding the physiological and molecular responses of plants to different combinations of abiotic stresses. While growing in field, crops are frequently challenged with various stresses, simultaneously or sequentially, negatively impacting overall yield and farmer’s earnings. I have been studying the impact of stresses that are predominantly present in fields, such as salt, heat, soil pollutants, high-light, drought, and their different combinations on crops such as rice, maize, soybean, and model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. I am working to decipher the molecular responses of plants to stress combinations. Combinations of different…