MU’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture offers new web resources

In August, the University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture introduced a new website that offers a comprehensive toolbox of practices to increase soil health, protect water quality and enhance conservation approaches on farms.

The center, operated by MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is the first of its kind in the Midwest. It was formed earlier this year to foster faculty and student collaboration and create a focal point for research in areas such as soil health and biodiversity, conservation practices and overall sustainability and profitability on working farms and ranches.

The goal of the center’s new website is to allow farmers, landowners, farm advisors and even consumers to access a wide range of information on regenerative agriculture prac­tices and concepts, according to Rob Myers, adjunct associ­ate professor in MU’s Division of Plant Sciences and faculty director for the center.

“We’ve included guidance on getting started with regener­ative approaches and organized over 100 resources in terms of publications and videos that provide additional insights on these topics,” Myers said.

The Missouri Department of Conservation provided initial funding for the center to look at how conservation approach­es work together to create diverse farming landscapes and provide both economic and environmental impacts for land­owners. For example, the center is currently collaborating on a $10 million proposal to study cover crops for farmers.

Adam Jones, MFA Incorporated’s natural resources conser­vation specialist, serves on the center’s advisory committee as its agribusiness representative. That 13-member committee also includes farmers, faculty, government agency and com­modity organization leaders.

“In planning the center, we gathered input from a variety of groups, including Missouri producers, some of whom will remain involved with the center on an advisory committee,” Myers said. “We have nearly 20 faculty at the University of Missouri who have expressed interest in participating with this new center, and I expect the number of internal and external partners to expand as activities get underway.”

For more information, visit the Center for Regenerative Agriculture online at cra.missouri.edu.