| Every
year, the CAFNR Dean Team meets with the supervisors of our
centers and farms to discuss issues related to the operation
and success of these facilities. Planning for that meeting has
caused me to reflect on the importance of the centers and farms
to nearly everything we do in the College. Our system of out-state
research facilities is an integral part of CAFNR and supports
efforts of our faculty in research, extension and teaching.
Many of you
are familiar with the ongoing plans to develop a research park
at South Farm. Continuing urban development around South Farm
has caused the College to rethink its use. Rather than lose
the farm to pressure for land development, we have sought to
enhance its role in the economic development of the area and
the state. At its October 2005 meeting, the Board of Curators
approved the designation of South Farm as a research park.
This will allow an initial development of about 60 acres for
an entrepreneurial village while maintaining the remainder
of the farm for its traditional role of supporting animal and
plant research, extension and teaching.
Other centers
and farms located throughout the state provide our researchers
and extension state specialists land and equipment for
field experiments and demonstrations that
benefit local and regional producers and that also provide
information for industry and state and federal agencies. Each
of these facilities supports activities relevant to the
place in which it is located — research designed to meet the
regional needs of agriculture in the surrounding counties.
The glaciated region of northern Missouri is home to five facilities.
The Hundley-Whaley Center is located in Albany
(Gentry County), and its primary focus is on crop protection and
crop variety testing. It was the home of one of two pharmaceutical
rice trials in the state this past summer. The Graves-Chapple
Farm is located in the northwest corner of the state
and emphasizes corn and soybean production. Two of our northern
farms focus on beef cattle. The Thompson Farm in
Spickard (Grundy County) focuses on beef cattle production while
the Forage Systems Research Center (FSRC) in
Linneus (Linn County) focuses on the development and evaluation
of forage systems for beef cattle. The Greenley
Memorial Research Center in Novelty (Knox County) provides
research and demonstrations that emphasize profitable crop production
systems for northern Missouri with concern for soil conservation,
water quality and energy efficiency. Greenley was the location
of the other pharmaceutical rice trial in northern Missouri.
The majority of southern Missouri is part of one of the oldest
landforms on the continent, the Ozark Highlands. We operate
three diverse centers and farms and the University Forest in
this broad region. The Horticulture and Agroforestry
Research Center (HARC) is located in New Franklin (Howard
County) in the Missouri River hills. HARC is the principal location
for agroforestry research and demonstration in the state and
maintains a long-standing role in horticultural research. The Wurdack
Farm is nestled along the Meramec River near Cook Station
(Crawford County). Work at Wurdack integrates forage, livestock,
forestry and wildlife management practices tailored for the Missouri
Ozarks. At the Southwest Center in Mt. Vernon
(Lawrence County), the focus is on pasture-based dairy management
and high production grazing systems. Located in the southeastern
corner of the Missouri Ozarks is the University Forest (Wappapello,
Butler County). The forest is managed by the School of Natural
Resources and is used for research and graduate and undergraduate
natural resources education.
The Bootheel
is a section of Mississippi River Floodplain that supports
crop production unique for our state. Much of
the research at the Delta Center in Portageville
(Pemiscot County) focuses on rice, cotton and
soybean production.
The Columbia Area Farms comprise CAFNR's remaining centers and farms.
These are South Farm, Bradford Research
and Extension Center, Foremost Dairy Center, the Rocheford
Farm and the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education
Center. These facilities are valuable for graduate research
and undergraduate teaching because of their proximity to the
MU campus.
We are fortunate
to have such a diverse system of centers and farms, many of
which came about through the generosity of friends of the College.
Those individuals believed in our mission and understood the
continued importance of our contributions to agriculture and
to the fabric of rural Missouri. I encourage you
to use these resources and take advantage of the unique opportunities
they afford us to bring our research and educational programs
to individuals throughout the state.
Regards,
Marc
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