Five Missouri universities are working together to offer students a broader agriculture education.
Until now, there was no way for a Missouri State University student to take a class about cotton farming from Southeast Missouri State. And a Southeast student couldn't take an agricultural finance class from Missouri State.
But starting this fall, some specialty classes will be offered through a combination of online instruction and two-way video feeds. Students even might make the occasional weekend trip to the campus teaching the course for some hands-on instruction.
Besides Southeast and Missouri State, the other participating universities are Truman State University, the University of Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State University. Funding is coming from a $570,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.