• Agribusiness is responsible for 233,000 jobs, which is 16.2 percent of all jobs in the area or about one in every six jobs.
• Agribusiness generates $22.6 billion in direct economic impact, which is 14.2 percent of all economic activity for the area or about one in every seven dollars.
• Agribusiness is a healthy and diverse segment of the economy that spans “farm to fork,” including major sectors such as farming, manufacturing, distribution and retail. The study pointed out that while the retail sector—which includes restaurants, grocery stores and farm supply stores—accounts for the most jobs, the manufacturing sector provides greatest overall economic impact.
• Some sub-sectors of the Kansas City agribusiness economy are experiencing significant growth, including animal health (which is growing at twice the national average) and logistics/transportation.

The study was conducted on a pro bono basis by Jason Henderson, assistant vice president and branch executive for the Omaha branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. It is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the Kansas City agribusiness economy and the first agribusiness economic study of any kind since 1997.

Andrew Proctor, professor of food science, and graduate student Vishal Jain produced soy oil rich in conjugated linoleic acid, also known as CLA.

Proctor and Jain have used the oil to produce potato chips that contain high concentrations of CLA. Proctor calls them “healthier potato chips.”

“It is still important to have a low fat diet, and we do not propose increasing the fat intake, but a few chips will provide needed CLA,” Proctor said.

“Our goal is to develop a popular food item that offers high concentrations of CLA without increasing saturated fat intake,” Proctor said. “Potato chips suit this purpose well. Subsequent studies may include development of high-CLA salad oils and dressings.”

Proctor found that CLA could be synthesized in soy oil by irradiating it with ultraviolet and visible light, although the first process still produced only low amounts, similar to that present in beef and dairy.

Proctor and Jain experimented with an instrument that exposes oil to UV light more evenly and produces significantly higher CLA content of soybean oil. The photo-irradiated oil contains 25 percent CLA, Proctor said. Beef and dairy products contain less than 1 percent.

The term “trans fatty acids” refers to the manner in which carbon atoms are bound together in the oil molecules. Jain adds iodine as a catalyst to destabilize double bonds that connect the carbon atoms. Proctor said energy from the photo irradiation causes those double bonds to shift position, a chemical change that results in the formation of CLA. Later, the iodine is filtered out of the product.

“Changing the position of the double bonds makes all the difference in the world,” Proctor said.

Proctor has received a $275,000 USDA grant to build a pilot plant that will process a greater volume of oil in less time.


Thundersnow means time to dig out
It’s rarely a good sign when a snowstorm produces lightning and thunder, according to University of Missouri-Columbia atmospheric scientists. They warn that such weather behavior is often the precursor to a bigger problem: lots of snow.

MU researchers in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources have determined that a heavy accumulation of snow is more likely to occur when a snowstorm is accompanied by flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder, referred to as thundersnow. In their study, Christina Crowe, an undergraduate student, and Patrick Market, associate professor of atmospheric science in CAFNR, examined snowfall in the Midwest.

Results indicated that within a 68-mile radius of where thundersnow occurred:

• 6 or more inches of snow fell 86 percent of the time;
• 10 or more inches fell 45 percent of the time; and
• maximum accumulation was recorded 36 percent of the time.

“When lightning and thunder occur, someone close is receiving a significant amount of snow,” Market said.

Market said thundersnow is rare and only occurs in the Midwest about 12 times per year. It most recently happened in December 2006 through parts of Missouri and Illinois as a major snowstorm crippled the area. The storm left about 16 inches of snow, closing roads, schools and businesses along its path.