Stories

Chris Elsik, associate professor of plant and animal sciences, and fellow CAFNR researcher and geneticist Bob Schnabel, associate professor in the Division of Animal Sciences, are applying their knowledge and experience of cattle and dairy genetics to the issue of Varroa mites in honey bees. The duo looks at the bees simply as little livestock.

April 12, 2018

Breeding a Better Bee

The honey bee is as busy as ever. From almonds to zucchini, honey bees pollinate more than 90 agricultural crops in the United States — worth more than $15 billion annually. In 2017, the apiculture industry provided pollination services valued at nearly $320 million, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. In addition, the bees also produced almost 150 million pounds of honey. But honey bees face a multitude of threats. Insecticides, diseases and pests all contribute to colony losses, but no stressor is greater than the Varroa mite. This tiny external parasitic mite, which was…
Henry Nguyen, who led the research effort, worked with a group of scientists from MU, the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Pacific Biosciences, Bionano Genomics and Washington University, in addition to international collaboration with the University of Western Australia and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Their research led to the development of two soybean reference genomes, soybean cultivar

Feb. 14, 2018

The Miracle Bean

When the Human Genome Project began in 1990, the goal was to sequence and map all of the genes that make up the human DNA. That project was completed in 2003 – and genome projects on many other species followed in subsequent years. Several crops grown in Missouri soon underwent genetic sequencing and mapping, including soybeans. The first soybean cultivar to be sequenced, “Williams 82,” was published in 2010. This widely-grown cultivar was chosen to represent the northern United States germplasm. For nearly a decade, this cultivar has served as the main soybean reference genome – the sequence…
Portrait of Christopher Daubert

May 17, 2017

Christopher R. Daubert Named CAFNR Vice Chancellor & Dean

Christopher R. Daubert, currently professor and department head of Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences and system co-chair of Food, Biochemical & Engineered Systems at North Carolina State University, has been named vice chancellor and dean of the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. He will join CAFNR effective Aug. 1. “The MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources has strong people, programs and partnerships serving our land-grant heritage, making CAFNR such an attractive destination and opportunity for leadership,” Daubert said. “The faculty and staff are exceptional and dedicated, and CAFNR’s students are incredibly capable and…
Vinebot robot in corn field.

March 13, 2017

High Tech, Low Cost

A two-pronged robotic system pioneered by University of Missouri researchers is changing the way scientists study crops and plant phenotyping. Felix Fritschi, associate professor in the Division of Plant Sciences, and Suhas Kadam, a postdoctoral fellow in Fritschi’s laboratory, have teamed up with Gui DeSouza, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and his Vision-Guided and Intelligent Robotics (ViGIR) Laboratory to study the effects of climate change on crops in Missouri. The effort is part of a larger study, funded by the National Science Foundation, to understand the overall effects of climate change…

Feb. 9, 2017

Navigating New Waters

Principal component analysis (PCA) is nothing new. In fact, the math for PCA processes, in which a large amount of data can be categorized or compared by discovering distinct patterns in such fields as spectra and microscopy, has been around since Steven Van Doren, professor of biochemistry, was an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University double majoring in biochemistry and computer science in the early ’80s. Van Doren recalled how at that time he had to write many lines of code to perform a PCA command that Jia Xu, a postdoctoral fellow who works in his laboratory, can now insert…
Gene Stevens, University of Missouri Extension professor, has developed a program, the Crop Water Use App, to assist farmers with their irrigation scheduling. Photo by Logan Jackson.

Feb. 2, 2017

‘A Whole New Game’

With technology ever changing, University of Missouri Extension professor Gene Stevens knows how important it is to keep up with the latest trends. Stevens, who is located at the Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville, Mo., has developed a program to help farmers do just that. Stevens, through MU Research and Extension, has developed the Crop Water Use App which can assist farmers with their irrigation scheduling. “When I began my career, there was a lot of excitement about using computers in agriculture,” Stevens said. “That was back in the 1980s, when we didn’t have as many…
Ground beef on a wooden cutting board

Jan. 18, 2017

Staying Fresh

Nutritionally, nothing is different when red meat, say ground beef for instance, darkens to brown, but try telling that to the average customer at a grocery store. “That’s the number one driver that consumers have,” said Carol Lorenzen about the bright redness quality of meat. A research team involving that included Lorenzen, professor of meat science in the Division of Animal Sciences, and her graduate student, Jade Cooper, have been investigating the impact of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting on beef color. The team published a research paper in the October 2016 issue of the Journal of Animal…

Dec. 8, 2016

Measuring the Impact of Fundamental Change

The agricultural production revolution is here. Biotechnology, robotics and automation; big data and precision agriculture; genetic-based chemistry and other digital innovations are changing the ways and rules of the agriculture industry. Never before have farmers and food producers had more access to more data points that can provide newfound insight on how to grow and produce crops with greater efficacy. Through a multitude of sensors, for instance, farmers can have instant access to field data on plant genetics and growth, soil conditions, disease and pest pressures, atmospheric temperature and humidity levels as well as modern analytics on how to…

Nov. 30, 2016

A Man for All Seasons

Everyone knows about the smiley face. It is part of the brand of Vice Chancellor and Dean Tom Payne. Looking at all of the related memorabilia in his office, one can see how the symbol has become synonymous with his infectious optimism and enthusiasm he has used over the past 18 years to help guide the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources through good times and bad. “I wanted to add a little more emphasis and so I wrote my name ‘Tom’ and put the smiley face on it and it just took off from that,” Tom says…

Nov. 17, 2016

‘A Daughter of CAFNR’

The Columbia home of Robin Wenneker contains several pieces of memorabilia that help tell the story of both her childhood and her family’s deep connection to the University of Missouri. Yet out of all of the scrapbooks, photos and artwork, it is a piece of cardboard that she claims as one of her most prized possessions. The cardboard piece, encased in a glassed-in frame, contains a short note from her father, Ron Wenneker, when she was in middle school. In a pre-cell phone/texting world, Ron would always leave notes for Robin, her mother, Carolyn; and her brother, Ryan.