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ACES 2020 Funk Awards recipients recognized

URBANA, Ill. - Each year the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences recognizes faculty, staff, and graduate students who have demonstrated outstanding achievements or exceptional service to the college.

The awards program was established in 1970 by the Paul A. Funk Foundation of Bloomington, as a memorial to the late Paul A. Funk, who attended the college as a member of the class of 1929 and devoted his life to agriculture.

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Cover crop could solve weed problems for edamame growers

URBANA, Ill. – For vegetable growers, weeds can mean lost income from reduced yield and foreign plant matter contaminating the harvest. But for many crops, particularly vegetable legumes, weed management options are very limited.

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Machine learning helps researchers identify bacterial biomarkers to determine food intake

URBANA, Ill. – As food makes its way through your digestive system, gut microbiota also get energy from the food. This creates a microbial footprint of what you’ve consumed. But the detective work to find these footprints includes wrangling huge sets of data.

After all, the human gut microbiota is a collection of trillions of bacteria that reside in the gut.

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Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative launches at University of Illinois

URBANA, Ill. – The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI), a new home for regenerative agriculture research, education, and outreach. The IRAI launches this fall with grant support from Fresh Taste, bringing together researchers on campus and stakeholders in Illinois and beyond to create agriculture and food systems resilient to climate change, improve soil and water quality, support healthy communities, and enhance food security.

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U of I receives funding to create, expand mental health resource network for farmers

URBANA, Ill. – Even without the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural producers experience high levels of anxiety, depression, substance use, and death by suicide. Researchers at the University of Illinois and Illinois Extension are working to ensure producers and their families have the resources and access to services to manage their stress and mental health.

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Teacher’s legacy supports St. Joseph-Ogden students

URBANA, Ill. - Teacher, veteran, and Illinois alumnus Kermit E. Esarey had a life-long devotion to teaching and commitment to his community. The Kermit E. Esarey scholarship is a continuation of that dedication.

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Boosting chickens’ own immune response could curb disease

URBANA, Ill. – Broiler chicken producers the world over are all too familiar with coccidiosis, a parasite-borne intestinal disease that stalls growth and winnows flocks. Various approaches, developed over decades, have been used to control coccidiosis, but the disease remains widespread.

Recent research from the University of Illinois supports the use of immunomodulatory and antioxidant feed additives to reduce the effects of coccidiosis.

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Richard Cooke receives Fulbright grant for rice productivity research in Sierra Leone

URBANA, Ill. ­­– Richard Cooke, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Illinois, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the 2020-2021 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

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More than animal feed: Compeer Financial donates $50,000 to Illinois’ new Feed Technology Center

URBANA, Ill. – The University of Illinois is home to some of the latest and greatest centers for advancement in agriculture. A new Feed Technology Center will soon add to the list of esteemed facilities for learning, research, and development. Currently under construction, this new state-of-the-art facility will be an epicenter for innovation across several disciplines.

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Celebrating our diversity

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – It is snowing again, and I turn to look through the bus window as it slowly pulls into the final stop. I hide my face in my scarf, hoping to stop the cold air sneaking in. It has been almost six years since I moved to the Midwest from Taiwan, but I still cannot deal with winter and snow. Once off the bus, I follow footprints to the Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Laboratory and push open the glass door.

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