A major soybean research project, which collaborates with the University of Missouri (MU), will shut down April 15 due to President Donald Trump's dismantling of funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Soybean Innovation Lab, based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was formed in 2011 to provide researchers and organizations with the resources needed to advance soybean development. The lab is comprised of over 100 technical soybean experts from 24 countries, each representing a variety of institutions.
The land-grant system will lose 19 innovation labs across 17 states, including Missouri. MU has been involved in the Soybean Innovation Lab since 2013, said Kerry Clark, an MU researcher who leads the mechanization division for the lab.
Clark said MU's sector of the Soybean Innovation Lab research received $1.2 million, or about $150,000 annually, before losing funding.
-NAFB