URBANA, Ill. ­– Climate change creates extreme weather patterns that are especially challenging for people in developing countries and can severely impact agricultural yield and food security. International aid organizations have invested billions of dollars in promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, but the effects of those programs are rarely documented.

URBANA, Ill. ­– “Excellent information and speakers for people to listen to and ask questions for serious concerns on this new ‘invisible enemy.’ Blessings to all,” one viewer said. That’s a typical statement about the farmdocDaily Coronavirus and Ag webinar series, available twice a week at no cost to anyone who signs up.

When the COVID-19 crisis began to send ripple effects through the ag community, the farmdocDaily team reacted quickly.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  Lisa Ainsworth, a research plant physiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and adjunct professor of plant biology and crop sciences at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences — largely considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

URBANA, Ill. – While many of us are staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, some 37,000 licensed pesticide applicators are going to work, ensuring an abundant food supply and weed- and insect-free outdoor spaces. Every year, about a third of these applicators sit down in testing locations across the state to renew their licenses. So, when it became clear in-person testing would be impossible this spring, thousands of jobs were on the line.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Crop scientists are the original social distancers, muses Allen Parrish, director of the Crop Sciences Research and Education Center at the University of Illinois.

“Planting season is always a demanding time of the year,” he says. “We obviously have restricted working conditions with the social distancing because of coronavirus, but for the most part that’s the nature of our work­. One person on the ground getting things ready; one person in a sprayer or planter. Those are single-operator activities, so the current conditions don’t critically hinder us.

URBANA, Ill. – When the tree fell that October in 2015, the tropical giant didn’t go down alone. Hundreds of neighboring trees went with it, opening a massive 2.5-acre gap in the Panamanian rainforest.

Treefalls happen all the time, but this one just happened to occur in the exact spot where a decades-long ecological study was in progress, giving University of Illinois researchers a rare look into tropical forest dynamics.

URBANA, Ill. – When Matt Wheeler got the call on a Sunday morning in March – just two days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued his first stay-at-home order – he wasn’t expecting to launch an experiment that could save countless lives.

URBANA, Ill. – ­Oil produced from biomass can provide a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. But technological challenges make it difficult to scale up production and make it economically viable.

One technology known as hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) allows for production of biocrude oil from wet biomass such as algae, food waste, or animal manure. This process sidesteps costly drying procedures; however, it creates a wastewater byproduct that is considered an environmental hazard.

A global team of more than 500 researchers, including many experts in smell and taste perception, is investigating the abrupt loss of smell and taste – called anosmia and hypogeusia, respectively – in association with COVID-19 and whether these symptoms could help predict patients who may have the disease and could be at risk of being contagious.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

URBANA, Ill. – Public parks can be valuable assets for communities, but crime in the area can “lock up” that amenity value. Crime directly affects the use that people get from their local parks. If crime is reduced, the environmental value can be unlocked, a new University of Illinois study shows.

“Our research is the first to rigorously quantify this effect, which turns out to account for nearly half of the total value of parks in major U.S. cities,” says Peter Christensen, environmental economist at U of I, and one of the study’s authors.