Stories
July 30, 2025
Researchers identify key survival strategy for soybeans during heat and drought
María Ángeles Peláez-Vico, Ron Mittler and Ranjita Sinha It’s a hot, dry summer afternoon, and the skies offer no relief for a field of soybeans. But within those green leaves, these plants are quietly fighting back. Researchers at the University of Missouri recently discovered that soybeans have a natural defense strategy — called differential transpiration — that helps protect the plant’s reproductive tissues (flowers and seed pods) during extreme weather conditions. Think of it as nature’s version of targeted air conditioning. Ron Mittler “Soybeans keep their stomata — tiny pores used for plant breathing and cooling by evaporation — open…
July 29, 2025
Q&A with Summer Welcome Leader Nigel Turner Jr.
Nigel Turner Jr., a sophomore from Raytown, Missouri, majoring in biochemistry, served as a Summer Welcome Leader.
July 29, 2025
Q&A with Summer Welcome Leader Kiersten Rogers
Kiersten Rogers, a sophomore from Fairview Heights, Illinois, majoring in animal sciences, served as a Summer Welcome Leader.
July 29, 2025
Q&A with Chris Daubert
Chris Daubert is proud to be referred to as “the land-grant dean” in Missouri.
July 28, 2025
From the livestock barn to the pageant stage, the Missouri State Fair offers young agriculturalists unique leadership roles
Student leaders from CAFNR will gather in Sedalia, Missouri, August 7-17, to ensure the state’s largest agricultural expo runs smoothly.
July 24, 2025
Mizzou Student Chapter of the American Institute of Floral Designers Win Awards at AIFD National Symposium
The MU Student American Institute of Floral Designers (SAIFD) Chapter placed 2nd in the nation in the student competition during the American Institute of Floral Designers National Symposium in Palm Springs, July 12-15.
July 23, 2025
2025 C-DRIG recipients announced
The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Office of Research offers the CAFNR Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (C-DRIG) of up to $2,000 to support or partially support 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. Proposals are evaluated by the CAFNR Research Council, an advisory body that advises CAFNR Office of Research and is made up of representatives from each Division in the College. This year, six awardees were granted $2,000 each. The…
July 22, 2025
CAFNR Students Selected for Honors College 2025 Cherng Summer Scholars Program
The Cherng Summer Scholars program allows Honors College students at the University of Missouri to explore their passions through research projects aimed at questions they are interested in analyzing.
July 21, 2025
Mizzou Researcher Helps Map Global Threats to Marine Megafauna in Landmark UN-Backed Study
As part of a massive international research effort aimed at protecting the ocean’s most vulnerable wildlife, Mizzou researcher Michael Byrne contributed vital data on mako sharks to a landmark study recently published in Science.
July 18, 2025
A ‘first’ for Mizzou
The IFT FIRST conference ran July 13-16, and Mizzou was front and center, as CAFNR’s own Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert helped host and kick off the event as IFT’s president, including sharing a welcome at the opening keynote, cutting the ribbon to officially open the expo, and much more.