Stories
April 17, 2025
Riley M. Sullivan has received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Thesis Award as part of Celebration of Excellence
Riley M. Sullivan has received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Thesis Award for her groundbreaking research on maternal recognition of pregnancy in pigs. She received her M.S. in Reproductive Physiology in 2024. Riley Sullivan Her thesis, “Functional Analysis of Pregnancy in the Pig: The Two Essential Conceptus Maternal Recognition Signals for Preventing Luteolysis,” redefines a 50-year-old model by demonstrating the essential and combined role of conceptus-derived estrogen and prostaglandins in maintaining pregnancy. Under the mentorship of Rodney Geisert, professor emeritus in the Division of Animal Sciences, Sullivan used advanced CRISPR gene-editing to develop a triple knockout model targeting…
April 17, 2025
Abraham (Abe) Koo receives CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Mid-Career Research Award as part of Celebration of Excellence
Koo is a leading plant biochemist known for his groundbreaking research on jasmonic acid (JA), a key hormone in plant defense and stress response.
April 17, 2025
Morgan Davis receives Outstanding Early Investigator Research Award as part of Celebration of Excellence
At Mizzou since 2020, Davis is a standout early-career researcher with a rapidly growing national reputation. His interdisciplinary work focuses on soil greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, cover crops and sustainable agriculture practices.
April 17, 2025
Mary Hendrickson receives the Distinguished Research Award as part of 2025 Celebration of Excellence
Mary Hendrickson, professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, has been presented with the CAFNR Distinguished Research Award for her internationally recognized scholarship on food systems. Her research addresses corporate concentration in agriculture, local and alternative food systems and the pursuit of resilient, equitable food networks. A prolific scholar, she has over 70 publications, more than 3,000 citations and has secured over $20 million in research funding as PI or Co-PI. Mary Hendrickson Hendrickson’s interdisciplinary work bridges sociology, economics, ecology and law, with findings cited globally, including in United Nations reports. She has presented across five continents, testified before…
April 14, 2025
Mizzou National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) wins 1st place at national competition
The Mizzou NAMA team received first place in the student marketing competition at the 2024 Agri-Marketing Conference held in Kansas City, April 9-11.
April 10, 2025
A walk in the park? Research takes a deeper look at urban green spaces
Nilon’s work focuses on understanding how plants and animals use urban spaces and how people connect with those ecosystems.
April 9, 2025
Get to know Jeri Lou Zimmerman
Jeri Lou Zimmerman What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? I am the Director of CAFNR Grants. Our office handles the pre-award side of sponsored grants and contracts for all of CAFNR and the College of Business through a MOU which is mostly done by the Grant Writers in our office. I do help out with proposals as needed which it has been recently as we have an open position. My proposal specialties are USDA, commodity groups, and foundations. I leave the big NIH, NSF, DOE, and DOD for Angie Hake and…
April 9, 2025
Catch Up with CAFNR – April 2025
Catch Up with CAFNR, February 2025: A photo gallery of CAFNR happenings!
April 3, 2025
Love in the Lab
Allen and Melissa Niedermann met in an entomology lab in 1998 and now two of their children attend Mizzou as legacies, one of whom inherited their love of entomology.
April 3, 2025
FAPRI releases baseline food and agricultural outlook report
The financial outlook for U.S. farmers in 2025 is like a painting with two contrasting scenes. Crop producers, in muted tones, face declining crop prices despite modest reductions in input costs, while cattle producers are colored in vibrant tones amid record prices. Above both, an unpredictable sky looms, symbolizing uncertainty in trade policy and programs that further complicate the economic landscape for agricultural producers. To help stakeholders navigate this complex scenery, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri (FAPRI) recently released its annual agricultural market baseline outlook, providing 10-year projections for agricultural and biofuels markets.