Voices of ACES Blog

Lights, Camera, Agriculture: Inside the AgRally 2025 Broadcast

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Reporting live from Fort Worth, Texas, University of Illinois agricultural communications students Jennie Abbott and Taylor Talbert shared updates on the James F.

Illinois Agriculture Legislative Day unites diverse stakeholders to advocate for state's largest industry

"Agriculture unites us all" was the resounding message as representatives from University of Illinois Extension, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and nearly 50 diverse agriculture organizations converged on the state Capitol for the 55th annual Illinois Agriculture Legislative Day.

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Illinois leads most rigorous agricultural greenhouse gas emissions study to date

Farmers apply nitrogen fertilizers to crops to boost yields, feeding more people and livestock. But when there’s more fertilizer than the crop can take up, some of the excess can be converted into gaseous forms, including nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that traps nearly 300 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. About 70% of human-caused nitrous oxide comes from agricultural soils, so it’s vital to find ways to curb those emissions.

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ABE junior awarded Truman Scholarship

Hannah Sundararajan, a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was awarded a $30,000 Truman Scholarship. Sundararajan is one of 54 Truman Scholars selected from a pool of 743 nominees from colleges and universities across the country.

Sundararajan, from New Berlin, Wisconsin, and a graduate of New Berlin High School, was selected by the Truman Foundation based on her academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as her likelihood of becoming a public service leader. 

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What effect will tariffs have on consumers, farmers?

Jonathan W. Coppess, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, spoke with Illinois News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about the potential effects of tariffs.

What are tariffs likely to mean to the average U.S. household, and when will consumers start to notice the effects?

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Voices of ACES Blog

Top 5 reasons to say yes

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It’s about that time to start seriously considering where the next chapter in your academic journey is going to be! Being a soon-to-be graduate from the U. of I., I can tell you the next four years will take you places you can’t even imagine. The only bad thing is how fast they go by! In my opinion, the decision to come to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign should be an easy one, but in the case that you aren’t sure if you are going to accept your offer or not, let me tell you why it should be a no-brainer.

Study explores how food manufacturers respond to state regulations

When West Virginia recently banned seven artificial food dyes in products to be sold within their borders, they joined an increasing number of individual U.S. states issuing their own regulations about food manufacturing practices, allowable ingredients, or product labeling.

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CABBI Team Deploys Robotic Lab to Revolutionize Plant Bioengineering

As the global population grows, the demand for food and energy is increasing even as extreme weather events make crops more vulnerable to stress. While traditional breeding takes years to develop more resilient crops, plant bioengineering offers a faster, more precise way to improve traits for higher yields and better stress tolerance.

But engineering plants to enhance their helpful traits is a complex process demanding significant time and labor.

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Maggie Wave named ACES Assistant Dean for Advancement

Maggie Wave is the new Assistant Dean for Advancement in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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