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Many wonder what Missouri gains from faculty and students concerning themselves with international research or education. The question is frequently asked, especially when budgets are tight and priorities must be enforced — Do global connections build a better Mizzou, or are they over-sold? 

Is there a connection between the international work we do and serving the needs of local Missouri clientele? I believe a strong international connection adds value to our programs and would like to offer three examples I have observed over the past month.

Value in distant ecosystems
Unlike people, disease knows no borders. Dependant only upon wind, hitch-hiking or other means of locomotion, plant and animal diseases move easily from one continent to another, often altering history. Late last year, Asian soybean rust worked its way up the Mississippi Valley from South America, being confirmed in the Bootheel of Missouri by late Nov. of 2004. As its name indicates, the disease is endemic to Asia where the origin of the soybean species is found; however, it is a new threat to Missouri and U.S. soybean production.

Thanks to hard work and relationship building among faculty in our National Center for Soybean Biotechnology and the Vietnamese scientific, government and foundation community, within 90 days of confirmation of Asian rust in Missouri, plant breeding nurseries of advanced soy breeding lines were planted in Vietnam (see photo).  As the 2005 Missouri soybean crop was being planted during the past few weeks, maturing soybean lines in Vietnam were being evaluated for response to the disease.

This is perhaps the most direct, the most time-tested reason to foster and maintain international relations. Solutions to real, local problems are often found elsewhere around the globe. As I write this, Henry Nguyen, Gary Stacey, Dave Sleper and Grover Shannon are in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam giving a seminar on soybean biotechnology at Cantho University. 

Value in distant ideas
In mid-May, travelers from across the United States, Europe and Africa attended a workshop in St. Louis organized by MU Rural Sociology faculty member Beth Barham. The topic? Geographical indications as a strategy for agricultural and rural economic development. The strategy of linking a place to a product is common and familiar — think of Roquefort cheese (originating in Roquefort, France) or Port wine (from Portugal). This concept has long been used in the grape and wine industry (i.e. Napa Valley). Now, thanks to the work of Beth and others, geographical indications (GIs) are proposed to be recognized through government-designated places, or appellations, as an actual brand criteria. 

Borrowed from others globally, the concept is being applied locally in Missouri near Ste. Genevieve. Can place-branded products be protected via intellectual property regulations? The concept is being discussed at the coming Doha round of talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose new Director-General, Pascal Lamy of France, is reported to be vigorously supportive. Missouri has a raft of place-oriented names and products that could be valuable, including the big river valleys and the Ozarks. Have you tried Missouri’s own beer with a soy ingredient and a St. Joseph flavor – Pony Express?

Value in foreign students returning home
Encouraged by then President Harry S. Truman, post-war Koreans have long been welcome students and visiting faculty here in Columbia. Today, after St. Louis and Kansas City, Seoul, South Korea, has the largest MU Alumni Chapter in the world.   Mizzou alumni in Korea help lead both parties of their National Assembly (their Congress), are regular anchors and correspondents among their print and TV media, and are found as key leaders within the country’s business and finance sector. 

Having relied upon MU for their education in the past, it only seems logical that they are looking to MU again with a local issue that has the world’s attention. Announced at the Truman Conference held last week in Seoul, North Korea’s agriculture will be the subject of five-party talks to be held July 25-27 on the China/North Korea border. China, Japan, North and South Korea will join a U.S. delegation from MU in discussing development of an improved cropping and water management system for North Korea’s farmers. Mizzou alum and North Korean expert Sung Wook Nam is organizing the group with the help of the Global Agriculture Policy Institute, an NGO based out of South Korea. As the saying goes, all politics are local, even when five countries are involved.

These are but three examples of the many MU and College programs that are more valuable because of international connections, and thus make the world — and Missouri — a better place to live.

Our students use the Study Abroad program to gain perspective. And our faculty, active on every continent, glean insights from colleagues around the world that make our teaching, research and extension programs just a bit better for having the experience. Considering what we give, and take, from our international efforts, they seem to be an important priority — even at a time when every priority must be questioned.

Regards, John