专业描述

Agriculture produces the third largest product value in Missouri, exceeded only by automobile manufacturing and tourism. Agriculture in Missouri is very diverse, including beef and dairy cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, forest products, corn, soybeans, cotton, milo, wheat, sunflowers, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables and numerous other alternative crops. Missouri's terrain is also diverse, ranging from the prairie type terrain in the Northwest and Northeast to the low-lying flat plains of the Southeast, to the Ozark Mountain areas. The University of Missouri is the oldest Land-Grant University west of the Mississippi River. The College of Agriculture was established in 1870 and the Agriculture Experiment Station was founded in 1888 under the Hatch Act of 1887. Congressman Hatch represented Northeast Missouri and wrote the Act. The Missouri Animal Sciences Division has an illustrious history which extends for a period of over a century. The original departments were Dairy Husbandry, Animal Husbandry, and Poultry Husbandry which were organized in 1901, 1904 and 1911, respectively. In 1983 the departments of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Husbandry were merged to form the Animal Sciences Department and in 1989 the Animal Sciences Department and the Dairy Husbandry Department were merged to form the Animal Sciences Unit. In 2005 the Animal Sciences Unit was elevated to the Animal Sciences Division. Other units closely allied with the Animal Sciences Division are the Commercial Agriculture Program and the Food For the 21st Century Program. Missouri faculty became leaders in animal research and extension interests early in the 20th century. Early research concentrated on the effects of nutrition and management practices on the efficiency of production of high-quality meat, milk, eggs and animal products. Some of the early "pioneers" who attained national stature were F. B. Mumford (controlled animal feeding); A. G. Hogan (vitamin and mineral supplements for swine); Samuel Brody (environmental physiology and energy metabolism); C. W. Turner (endocrinology and lactation); H. L. Kempster (egg production); Fred McKenzie (reproductive biology) and H. A. Herman (artificial insemination). Many of these avenues of research and extension were so "on-target" that they continue today at a much more basic level. (For an up-to-date history of the Animal Sciences Division see: The Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri - 100 years, Agriculture Experiment Station Special Report 564, April 2006).