It's midday at the Seed to Table summer camp in the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition Innovation Center (JJK FAN) in East St. Louis, Ill. The kids have spent the morning learning how to plant, tend to and, yes, even weed a vegetable garden. Now the campers are pivoting into the kitchen to make healthy produce-based snacks with Grace Margherio, a 4-H youth development educator with University of Illinois Extension. "After Seed to Table," Margherio says, "they can visualize how their food grows on plants and want to be more involved in growing and cooking it."

Soils that are exposed to prolonged drought often develop desiccation cracks, which impact soil properties and exacerbate moisture loss through evapotranspiration. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the evolution of soil cracking and how cracks interact with storage and movement of water in the soil. The findings can help improve hydrological models essential for water management. 

Changes to Illinois divorce laws in 2016 that were expected to speed up cases; discourage adversarial, lengthy litigation; and more evenly distribute parents’ time with their children had little impact on these factors, a new study published in the journal Family Relations reports. However, the amended statutes did encourage more divorcing couples to jointly share major decision-making responsibilities for their children, the researchers say.

The Illini Pullers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign secured first place in the 2026 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition on May 28th through 31st where teams design ¼ scale tractors throughout the year that are put to the test by a panel of industry experts at the competition.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor Brian Ogolsky, part of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, was recently one of three people to earn the prestigious Fellow status from the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR).

Dan Shike, a nationally recognized expert in beef cattle production systems and longtime faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed head of the Department of Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, effective June 16, 2026.

In an innovative food science course at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, students wandered through street markets in Veracruz, Mexico, and Taipei, Taiwan; and toured a coffee plantation and artisanal chocolate factory in a mountain village — all without leaving the Illinois campus.

Agricultural communications leader and alumna Amy Roady has been named the inaugural director of the James F. Evans Global Center for Food and Agricultural Communications in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

"As an education major, I never thought I would know so much about corn,” says College of Education sophomore Hannah Haas.

Haas is part of a unique project partnership between the College of Education and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. With funding from a USDA grant, this collaboration brings together future educators and agricultural researchers to develop an engaging, standards-based curriculum for K–12 students using popcorn.