The Center for Agroforestry | University of Missouri (original) (raw)
With specialty crop research spanning more than three decades, the Center for Agroforestry has amassed a wealth of knowledge about how to fund, establish, maintain, and market agroforestry systems and the products that come from them.
Our technical guide library is available for free, with topics spanning chestnut cultivation, pawpaw orchard establishment, navigating NRCS funding, land succession planning, riparian buffer design, economic budgeting, and much more.
Browse our grower guide library
We host annual field events, conferences, and symposia to encourage knowledge exchange and continued collaboration among the agroforestry community. The most intensive of our training opportunities is our annual Agroforestry Training Academy.
The Academy brings together producers, natural resource and agriculture professionals, technical assistance providers, and educators to gain an in-depth understanding of agroforestry practices, system-level design, species selection, marketing, and more. Virtual and in-person options available.
2023 Academy visit to Cedar Hill Farm’s elderberry orchard.
2023 Academy visit to Green Pastures Farm for silvopasture demonstrations.
2023 Academy visit to the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s vegetable production fields with pollinator buffer strips, located near their community food forest and detention basin with woody perennial species.
2023 Academy lesson from Ben Knapp, PhD, on woodland silvopasture establishment considerations for forest health.
2023 Academy students exploring potential woodland silvopasture sites at Green Pastures Farm.
Recent peer-reviewed publications from Center for Agroforestry researchers and key collaborators:
Adainoo, B., Byers, P., Krishnaswamy, K., Redhage, D., Hunt, K., Avery, J. D., … Thomas, A. L. (2024). Long-Term Performance of Ten North American Pawpaw Cultivars in Missouri, USA. International Journal of Fruit Science, 24(1), 229-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/15538362.2024.2384391
Beebe, G.R., Pile Knapp, L.S., Stambaugh, M.C. et al. Fire versus herbivory for oak woodland restoration: burning achieves short-term structural and compositional objectives whereas browsing alone fails to reduce stem densities and promote ground flora. fire ecol 20, 102 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00336-1
Cai, Z., Stubblefield, K., Thomas, A. L., & Aguilar, F. X. (2024). From Niche to Mainstream: US Consumer Trends and Preferences for Elderberry Products. HortScience, 59(12), 1723-1729. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18180-24
Caruthers, A., Dijak, J., & Rotman, R. (2024). Spatiotemporal Patterns for Agroforestry Tree Crops in the U.S. Corn Belt for USDA Census of Agriculture Periods 2012–2022. Agriculture, 14(12), 2241. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14122241
Çerçioğlu, M., Udawatta, R. P., & Anderson, S. H. (2025). Use of cover crops for sustainable management of soil condition and health: A review. Soil Security, 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soisec.2025.100177
Curtis, Ashley F., Madison Musich, Amy N. Costa, Joshua Gonzalez, Hyeri Gonzales, Bradley J. Ferguson, Briana Kille, Andrew L. Thomas, Xing Wei, Pei Liu, C. Michael Greenlief, Joel Shenker, David Q. Beversdorf. (2024). Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of American Elderberry Juice for Improving Cognition and Inflammation in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25(8):4352. Special Issue: New Trends in Alzheimer’s Disease Research: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutics 2.0. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25084352.
Gold, M. A Decade of Dynamic Growth in U.S. Agroforestry. Bohdan Lojka, Šárka Hoffmanová (eds.). EURAF 2024 28–31 MAY 2024, Brno Abstract book. https://doi.org/10.11118/978-80-7509-982-2-x1
Gurmessa, B., S. Cocco, A. Ashworth, R.P. Udawatta, V. Cardelli, D. Serrani, A. Ilari, E. F. Pedretti, F. Fornasier, and G. Corti. (2024). Enzyme activities and microbial nutrient limitations in response to digestate and compost additions in organic matter poor soils in the Marches, Italy. Soil & Tillage 106136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2024.106136
Jablonski, B., Meier, N.A., Chatwin, W. et al. Quantitative trait loci for bearing habit in a ‘Sparrow’ x ‘Schessler’ Juglans nigra mapping population. Tree Genetics & Genomes 20, 30 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-024-01664-8
Kasote, D.M.; Lei, Z.; Kranawetter, C.D.; Conway-Anderson, A.; Sumner, B.W.; Sumner, L.W. (2024). A Novel UHPLC-MS/MS Based Method for Isomeric Separation and Quantitative Determination of Cyanogenic Glycosides in American Elderberry. Metabolites 2024, 14, 360. https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/14/7/360
Meier, N.A., Gold, M.A. and Revord, R.S. (2024). Performance of ten elite Chinese chestnut cultivars in replicated trial over 16 years in central Missouri. Acta Hortic. 1400, 283-288. DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1400.33
Mendis, S.S., Udawatta, R.P., Davis, M.P., Gurmessa, B., Salceda, M., and Herget, M.E. 2025. Cover crop and tillage effects on soil microbial communities in a corn cropping system. Agrosystems, Geosciences, and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70054
Musich, M.; Curtis, A.F.; Ferguson, B.J.; Drysdale, D.; Thomas, A.L.; Greenlief, C.M.; Shenker, J.I.; Beversdorf, D.Q.Preliminary Effects of American Elderberry Juice on Cognitive Functioning in Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients: A Secondary Analysis of Cognitive Composite Scores in a Randomized Clinical Trial. Antioxidants 2025, 14, 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox14020131
Romanova, Olga. (2024). The potential of agroforestry development in Kazakhstan and the need for agroforestry policy. In M. Spies, H. Alff, C. Raab, A. Zakirova, M. Zuberi (Eds.), Sustainable Food and Biomass Futures? Localised Approaches to Agricultural Change and Bioeconomy (pp. 38-43). Centre For Economics And Ecosystem Management, Eberswalde University For Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.57741/OPUS4-837
Salceda-Gonzalez, M., Udawatta, R.P. & Anderson, S.H. (2024). Agroforestry on runoff nitrogen and phosphorus losses from three paired watersheds after 25 years of implementation. Agroforest Syst. DOI: 10.1007/s10457-023-00932-1
Salceda-Gonzalez, M., Udawatta, R.P., and Appold, M.S. 2025. Groundwater Nitrate-Nitrite Modeling in a Grazed Hillslope with Agroforestry and Grass Buffers. Water 2025, 17, 608. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050608
Stubblefield, K., Smith, M., Lovell, S., Wilson, K., Hendrickson, M., Cai, Z. Factors affecting Missouri land managers’ willingness-to-adopt agroforestry practices. Agroforest Syst 99, 16 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-024-01117-0
Thomas, A. L., Rottinghaus, G. E., Dela Libera Tres, M., Byers, P. L., Avery, J. D., Kaps, M., Gruen, I/, Mazumder, A., Thomas, D. M., Westwood, M. N., Campos, G., Biagioni, R., Johnson, M. C., & Greenlief, C. M. (2024). Soil nitrogen fertility influences the growth and yield of American elderberry but is less impactful than genotype and environment on other horticultural characteristics. HortScience, 59(6), 787-793. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI17772-24
Udawatta, R. P., Gurmessa, B., Gonzalez, M. S., Mendis, S. S., & Lovell, S. T. (2024). Short‐term effects of kernza and alfalfa on microbial communities. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20509
Udawatta, R.P., Mendis, S.S., Salceda, M., Rankoth, L.M., and Weerasekera, C. (2024). Open growth of three oak species in a corn/soybean agroforestry alley cropping practice. Agroforestry Systems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-023-00937-w