CAFNR

Extension

Q&A

Q&A with Teng Lim

Teng Lim is an Extension professor and agricultural engineer.

June 8, 2022

Written by Genevieve Howard

print mail

man standing in a field in front of a red piece of equipment
A man is descending into hole in the ground via a ladder. he looks up and smiles at the camera.
Teng inspects the manure scraper system at the MU swine farm.

What do you do in your current role with the University of Missouri? 

I am an Extension professor and agricultural engineer. I work with agricultural air quality, waste management, and biosecurity.

How long have you worked in this position? 

I have been in this position for 12+ years.

four people pose in front of ancient stone carvings in China.
Extension faculty Joe Zulovich, Ray Massey, Cory Bromfield and Teng Lim visit ancient stone carvings in Henan, China.

What is your favorite part about the work you do?  

My favorite part about the work I do is helping farmers and agency folks improve problems ranging from on-farm air quality issues to waste management, anaerobic digestion, and biosecurity. I also enjoy working with students. I sometimes guest lecture for students and enjoy interacting with those working in our lab. I love getting to learn together with graduate students and postdocs.

How are you helping MU A&E Extension reach our #2xAg2030 goal?  

A man is holding a durian fruit in a market.
Teng hails from Malaysia and enjoys some tropical fruits, like durian.

I hope that my programs and collaborations help to improve agricultural production and regulations. There is still plenty of room to make production more environmentally friendly and improve regulations to be balanced and easier to follow. These improvements are important for reasons of efficiency, economics, the environment, and farm profit margins.

What is something your CAFNR and MU Extension teammates may not know about you? 

After so many years in the U.S., I still crave some street food and tropical fruits, like durian. My tropical body does not do well in cold or humid weather.

What is your hometown, place of high school graduation and degrees/universities?  

I am from a small, southern town in Malaysia, and I got my degrees from the University of Kentucky and Purdue University. I came to the US to study agricultural engineering because Malaysia had small orchards that were not very efficient. I was very confident back then that I was only staying in the U.S. for 2-3 years and would be back to fix all the problems…  But then I was attracted to the huge potential for practical improvements one can contribute to ag engineering and Extension.