URBANA, Ill. – Students in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are empowered, innovative leaders focused on solving some of today’s biggest challenges.

URBANA, Ill. – Riggs Beer Company and the Small Grains Improvement Program at the University of Illinois are teaming up from 3 to 5 p.m. on May 21 for their first Field Festival. The event, which organizers hope to host annually at Riggs, welcomes current and curious wheat and barley growers, maltsters, home brewers, and members of the public to tour test plots and learn more about the crops that give beer its distinctive flavor.

This week’s 5 Questions Friday features Travis Johnson, TSM alum and current academic advisor and instructor for ETMAS and TSM in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

What motivates you in your work?

URBANA, Ill. -- University of Illinois researchers were part of a multi-institutional team that has significantly improved the performance of numerical predictions for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions using novel modeling that combines artificial intelligence and process-based knowledge. 

URBANA, Ill. – Fermentation is a crucial manufacturing step for many industries, including food, feed, cosmetics, and fuel. The fermentation process converts agricultural feedstocks to valuable materials with the use of microorganisms such as yeast and bacteria. It provides ingredients for products ranging from meat and dairy substitutes to cosmetics made without animal proteins.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Plant-covered roofs have become a regular sight in Portland, Oregon. The city is a leader in incorporating green infrastructure for stormwater management, including free street trees, rebates for small residential housing footprints, and green roofs.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Plants release chemical distress signals when under attack from chewing insects. These “911 calls,” as entomologist Esther Ngumbi refers to them, alert other bugs that dinner or a nice place to lay their eggs is available nearby. If predatory or parasitic insects detect the right signal, they swoop in like saviors to make a meal out of – or lay their eggs in – the bodies of the herbivore insects.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

On April 6, the ACES Office of International Programs hosted Jim Suits, a project management officer in USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

Suits’ visit provided an opportunity for students and faculty to learn more about how FAS works with the agriculture industry to navigate the ever-changing nature of agriculture across borders.

The U.S. isn’t on the verge of a food crisis or food shortage due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is, however, experiencing food price inflation, which will continue to be a pocketbook issue for consumers, says Scott Irwin, the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing. He spoke with Illinois News Bureau's business and law editor Phil Ciciora about the potential for a global food crisis. Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

URBANA, Ill. – The Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) honored Maria Teresa Serra Devesa as Thomas A. Hieronymus Distinguished Chair in Futures Markets during an investiture ceremony at the University of Illinois on April 27.