University of Missouri founded
1839
Established in 1839, the University of Missouri was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Morrill Act
1862Morrill Act creates state colleges of agriculture.
MU College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts founded
1870…
George Clinton Swallow appointed as the first Dean of the MU Agriculture and Mechanical College
1870First students enrolled
1870…
Switzler Hall was built
1871
The first classes for the new MU College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts were held here. It was originally named Scientific Hall, then Agricultural Hall.
Mizzou tests new mass-produced plows
1872Mizzou tests new mass-produced plows and cultivators and shares results with farmers
First students graduated
1873…
Entomologist C.V. Riley helped save French wine industry with Missouri rootstock
1876…
Henry Kirklin, the University’s first Black teacher, teaches how to prune and graft plants
1880Henry Kirklin (1858-1938) was a former enslaved person who became a prize-winning gardener and horticulturist and a successful businessman. After joining the University of Missouri’s horticulture department as a gardener and greenhouse supervisor, he may have been the first African American to teach at the university, although in an informal, unofficial capacity, as the university did not allow Black people to hold official teaching positions during his lifetime. Read more about Kirklin.
First U.S. vaccine-virus lab established
1885Agriculture’s veterinary science department establishes first U.S. vaccine-virus lab.
Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations
1887Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations at land-grant universities.
J.W. Sanborn establishes Sanborn Field (then called Rotation Field)
1888
Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) was created within the college to develop the agricultural sciences by practical research
1888
AES was created within the college to develop the agricultural sciences by practical research
College of Agriculture published bulletins to share research discoveries with farmers
1890…
First agriculture graduate student at Mizzou
1891…
Swallow Hall constructed
1892
Natural resources and some ag classes were taught here. The building is named for the first dean of MU agriculture, George Swallow.
Animal science experts created vaccine for Texas Fever
1893Animal science experts determine that Texas Fever is caused by ticks and created a vaccine to eradicate the cattle disease.
Agricultural Chemistry becomes first department in the College of Agriculture
1894
Mizzou Anti-Hog Cholera Serum plant opens
1894…
Dunn-Palmer Herbarium founded
1896Dunn-Palmer Herbarium became the first plant library west of the Mississippi.
Dairy science building built
1901
Later expanded and renamed Eckles Hall in honor of Clarence Henry Eckles in 1938
First four-year course in agriculture developed
1901…
College adds to curriculum
1901Colleges adds dairy husbandry, animal husbandry, agronomy, farm management, field crops, soils and agricultural engineering to curriculum.
Animal husbandry department formed
1904
In 1904 most Missouri farmers raised livestock, so the department worked closely with livestock producers. This trend of working with livestock producers has continued through the years.
First MU Livestock Judging Team
1905…
Dairy chemistry lab, Eckles Hall
1909
Home economics class
1909
Dairy cow Chief Josephine produces a record 15,725 pounds of milk in one year
1910
Department of Farm Management established
1910…
MU Extension spread research results to citizen of Missouri
1910…
Poultry Husbandry Department established
1911
College of Agriculture began research on soybeans
1911College of Agriculture begins research on soybeans, a $6 billion Missouri industry today.
Special trains journey through Missouri sharing research discoveries with farmers
1912…
College of Agriculture faculty answer 109,557 questions from Missouri farmers
1913…
Department of Soils formed
1914The new department was housed in Mumford Hall.
Smith-Lever Act established
1914Smith-Lever Act established cooperative extension to inform about agriculture developments.
Dean Mumford directed projects to boost production
1915Dean Mumford directs project to boost production from 22 to 44 bushels per acre to help war effort.
M.F. Miller studies soil and water loss under different cropping systems
1917…
President Wilson picked Fredrick Mumford to help rebuild French agriculture
1919…
College’s Clover and Prosperity program fights soil erosion
1922…
Agriculture enrollment hit 700
1923Agriculture enrollment hit 700, making it the largest Mizzou academic unit.
Memorial Union’s first phase of construction completed
1926
Today, the University of Missouri’s Memorial Union is a campus icon that remembers soldiers who died in battle. The concept came from a poem written by a MU College of Agriculture graduate who perished in World War I. Robert McGhee “Peaches” Graham (1892 – 1918) and his Army friends wrote the poem, which calls for the construction of a bell tower on the MU campus to memorialize the University’s war dead. Photo of Bell Tower construction courtesy University Archives.
Lewis Stadler discovers radiation multiples mutations in plants
1927Lewis Stadler discovers radiation multiples mutations in plants, a break though leading to faster development of new crop varieties.
Early Leaders of the College
1928
Picture of the faculty of the Department of Animal Husbandry at the University of Missouri taken in 1928 or 1929. Front row (from left) – Jim Burch, Jim Foster, Frederick B. Mumford, EA Trowbridge, and Fred F. McKenzie; Middle row (from left) – L.A. Weaver, T.A. Ewing, A.G. Hogan, and D. Chittenden; Back row (from left) L.E. Casida (PhD student), H. Garlock, H. Moffett, and J.E. Comfort.
Mizzou Agricultural Library among largest in nation
1938…
“Woody” Woodruff is first researcher to break 100 bushel per acre barrier
1943…
Leonard Haseman and L.F. Childers perfect diet to protect bees
1944Leonard Haseman and L.F. Childers perfect a diet that protects bees from a disease that threatens to wipe out nation’s bee colonies.
Aureomycin discovered
1945
Department of Forestry established
1947The department was housed in the Agriculture Building and was elevated to the status of School of Forestry in 1957.
First MU Livestock Judging Team with a female participant
1948
Foremost Dairy Research Center was built through a generous donation from J.C. Penney
1952
The center was named after his famous bull, Langwater Foremost.
Ernest and Lotti Sears developed a wheat strain resistance
1952Ernest and Lotti Sears developed a wheat strain resistant to rust disease – strain became a worldwide food source.
Horticulture Research Center opens
1953
The Horticulture Research Center became the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC) in 1995.
Agricultural faculty help set up Indian agricultural universities
1954…
Thompson Farm established
1955Thompson Farm was established in 1955 through the will of Dr. George Drury, a retired dentist. The terms of the will prescribed that the farm should be “dedicated to public educational purposes in memory of Eulah Thompson Drury, Guy A. Thompson, Paschall W. Thompson and Olive F. Thompson.”
Gyorgy Redei indentified Arabidopsis as a model
1957Gyorgy Redei identified Arabidopsis as a model of flowering plant genetics, which becomes a standard worldwide.
Delta Research Center opens in Portageville
1958…
Farmers tour the new Bradford Research Farm
1959
Research began on herbicide Treflan
1959…
Ag Building dedicated
1961
Sanborn Field added to National Register of Historical Places
1964
Forage Systems Research Center was established
1965The primary research objective is the development and evaluation of forage systems for all classes of beef cattle.
Six new Missouri cotton varieties developed
1965…
Department of Atmospheric Science formed
1967The new department was housed in Gentry Hall.
Hospitality Management program was established
1969It was then called Hotel and Restaurant Management. The program name changed in 2011 to reflect how the hospitality industry has grown and developed.
MU Animal Science Research Center construction began
1969…
Fisheries and Wildlife program becomes part of Natural Resources
1973The program was originally established in 1937 in the College of Arts and Sciences, and was housed in Stephens Hall.
Greenley Research Center dedicated after Hortense Greenley donates 700-acre farm
1974
MU Biochemistry created as a joint affiliation between the School of Medicine and CAFNR
1976For decades, faculty at the University of Missouri’s Department of Biochemistry had one collective goal — to study life at the molecular level — but were in two separate units, one housed in CAFNR under the name agricultural chemistry and one in the School of Medicine under its current name.
Animal and poultry science departments merge; single undergraduate curriculum in animal, dairy and poultry science created
1983
Food & Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) established
1984…
School of Natural Resources created
1989…
Animal and dairy science departments merged to form the animal sciences unit
1989…
Ernie Soft Red Winter Wheat announced
1995…
Construction of the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources building
1996
The MU Center for Agroforestry established
1998The MU Center for Agroforestry is one of the world’s leading centers in agroforestry research.
Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building dedicated
1998
Bioengineering Department created as a jointly affiliated unit between CAFNR and the College of Engineering
2000…
Randall Prather cloned first pig
2000Randall Prather cloned first pig in which a gene that causes human rejections “knocked out” of the DNA.
Bruce McClure determined molecular mechanism
2005Bruce McClure determined molecular mechanism by which flowering plants recognize which pollens are appropriate for fertilization.
The Division of Plant Sciences formed
2005New division was formed through the consolidation of the former departments of Agronomy, Entomology, Horticulture, and Plant Microbiology and Pathology.
Monty Kerley identifies cattle that achieve weight goals on less feed
2009…
CAFNR enrollment surpasses 3,000 students
2010…
CAFNR scholarships top $1 million
2011…
Mizzou’s $75 million woody biomass boiler goes online, replacing polluting coal
2012…
Missouri’s first drought simulators open
2012…
Drive to Distinction – CAFNR Strategic Plan Launched
2019
Missouri is fortunate to have strong agriculture, natural resource, financial and healthcare industries as allied partners to provide CAFNR, as part of Missouri’s land-grant university, an opportunity to affect the lives of every citizen by providing unbiased, relevant and accessible education, information and resources. Read the strategic plan
CAFNR officially opens Land of the Osages Research Center
2019
This new center, the first center to open in more than 30 years, will further research in agroforestry, a sustainability-focused system that combines trees and shrubs with crops.
About the future from Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert
2019
“Massive changes are happening in agriculture and natural resources,” Vice Chancellor and Dean Daubert says. With the world’s population projected to increase to 9 billion by 2050, along with rapidly changing climates, it’s up to science to help communities adapt, he says. “As a land-grant institution, we work hard to share current technologies with our students and Missourians. But we also must go beyond that and teach next-generation practices that will keep our agriculture and natural resource industries thriving and striving to be on top far into the future.”
CAFNR celebrates 150 years of serving Missouri and the world
2020
Founding Day 150th Celebration
2020
CAFNR’s Founding Day celebration was Feb. 24, 2020.
On the Drive: Biennial Report 2021 Released
2021
This report shows the progress made over the first two of the six years. Read the report