About the center
The Missouri Soybean Center is a community of scientists, teachers, farmers, advisers and consultants dedicated to increased profitability, enhanced sustainability and expanded use of soybean. Community members come from universities, private companies, government agencies, commodity groups and farms throughout Missouri. Together, we are committed to ensure that soybean remains an economic engine contributing to prosperity for all Missourians.
Mission:
Facilitate interaction, dialog and communication so that we can combine our knowledge and talents to increase soybean profitability, sustainability and use.
Goals:
- Highlight excellent research, teaching and extension programs focused on soybean.
- Foster collaborations among persons from all disciplines with an interest in soybean.
- Connect scientists and teachers with farmers and their advisers.
- Facilitate the assessment of challenges facing all parts of the soybean value chain, help set priorities for research, teaching and extension programs, and identify teams to address those challenges.
Values:
The Missouri Soybean Center values:
Science — Our decisions, actions, and advice are firmly rooted in sound science. Each day we add to the world’s knowledge of soybean. We gather information through strict adherence to the scientific method. We propose hypotheses and test those hypotheses using methods that assure our results are repeatable and transferable. Our conclusions are unencumbered by bias, personal belief or outside pressure and submitted for peer and public review.
Engagement — Facts gained from experimentation are empty and useless until placed in the vessel of engagement. Our responsibility does not stop with discovery; instead we engage our discoveries on to issues of consequence facing the soybean industry and those that benefit from that industry. Gathering, interpreting and sharing information are at the center of our engagement. We facilitate engagement through symposia and other meetings; in our classrooms; in our extension programs, and through development of other educational opportunities.
Service — Our science and scholarship are mission directed. We bring our science, engagement and skills to bear on challenges facing all links in the soybean value chain. We enrich the lives of all citizens by improving stewardship of the environment, enhancing food security through increased yield, improving human nutrition and health, and stimulating economic development of local communities.
Community — We are a community in the truest sense of the word. The Missouri Soybean Center is a place where individuals are able to make connections, learn from each other, and grow professionally and intellectually. While our work is rooted in the scientific method, we also honor the wisdom obtained from life’s experiences. We nurture each other and help each other become better citizens in the scientific community and throughout Missouri.