Mission:
The Madison, WI Location comprises five Management Units: Cell Wall Biology and Utilization Research Unit (CWBURU), Cereal Crops Research Unit (CCRU), Dairy Forage Research Unit (DFRU), Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research Unit (EIDMRU), and Vegetable Crops Research Unit (VCRU). The mission of the CWBURU is to enhance the production capacity, efficiency, product quality and sustainability of integrated dairy systems through better understanding and management of plant and animal physiology, intensive forage production, resource and nutrient conservation practices, and enhanced eco-system services. The mission of the CCRU is to develop enhanced germplasm by identifying and characterizing biological mechanisms that affect cereal quality and to conduct quality phenotyping for public sector barley research and breeding programs across the nation. The mission of the DFRU is to enhance the productivity, efficiency and environmental sustainability of integrated dairy and forage systems through development of improved and adapted traditional and novel forages and management strategies. The mission of the EIDMRU, a research unit located at Institute for Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management (IEIDM) in Marshfield, WI, is to reduce the environmental footprint of the U.S. dairy industry and maximize relevant ecosystem services through research and technology transfer initiatives addressing the prominent bio-physical, socio-economic and operational features of dairy production systems. The mission of the VCRU is to improve potato, carrot, onion, cucumber, and cranberry crop production and quality through germplasm preservation, characterization, enhancement, and release; investigations of crop genetics, taxonomy, gene flow, disease and pest resistance, postharvest storage physiology, abiotic stress resilience, flavor and nutritional quality; and development of molecular tools, pest management and plant breeding strategies.