Dynamic and instantaneous information flows across the entire food complex demand next-generation approach, say two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences students participating in the National Ag Day celebration on The Cowboy Channel.

“Finding practical, healthy, and sustainable food solutions will require holistic thinking and collaboration from farmer to consumers and everyone in between,” said Taylor Talbert, an ACES senior from a livestock farm near Onarga, Ill.

“Fortunately, holistic thinking and collaboration are how my generation is wired. And being digital natives, we can see how integrating new communication channels can help build the bridges needed across food systems.”

Talbert said her internship last summer with Corteva Agriscience showed her both the enormity of communications challenges and how well her generation is prepared to take them on.

While college curricula and hands-on experiences are vital, rapid change means life-long learning is more critical than ever, said Jennie Abbott, an ACES junior from a grain and livestock farm in Orion, Ill., and president of the Illini Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter.

“The speed of changes and the immediate global impact they can have on farmers and consumers is incredible,” Abbott said. “To make the difference I want to make in my career, I’m going to have to be continuously pushing myself to quickly know more and do better long after graduation.”

Talbert and Abbott are participating in the development of the Dr. James F. Evans Global Center for Food and Agricultural Communications to be based within ACES. The college has made significant progress building on an initial anonymous investment for creating a better, more sustainable future for food and agriculture by advancing state-of-the-art communications.

“We are thrilled with the level of interest we have received since announcing our plans for the Evans Center last year,” said Anna Ball, associate dean of academic programs in the College of ACES. “To have financial commitments at this stage for almost 60% of our initial goal is awesome.”

Ball said the center will bring together students and faculty from across campus and around the world with other institutions, practitioners, and the public focused on food and agriculture communications, including:

• Robust research for discovering new approaches to communications challenges unique to food and agriculture.
• High-impact communications capabilities for food and agricultural communications practitioners and industry leaders.
• Public issues engagement strategies and implementation for the food and agriculture complex.
• Bridges across the agri-food complex that deepen understanding and alignment on the future of food and agriculture.
• Knowledge transfer for better, more sustainable global agri-food and rural communities.

To learn more about the Evans Center and the agricultural communications program, contact program director Owen Roberts at oroberts@illinois.edu. To explore opportunities to support these initiatives, contact the ACES Office of Advancement at 217-333-9355 or acesadvancement@illinois.edu. Contributions can also be made  online at https://evans.aces.illinois.edu/give/.