Komorebi is a Japanese word that describes how light filters through leaves—creating shifting, dappled “sunflecks” that illustrate plants’ ever-changing light environment. Crops harness light energy to fix carbon dioxide into food via photosynthesis. In a special issue of Plant Journal, a team from the University of Illinois reports a new mathematical computer model that is used to understand how much yield is lost as soybean crops grapple with minute-by-minute light fluctuations on cloudy and sunny days. 

URBANA, Ill. – With some reports predicting the precision agriculture market will reach $12.9 billion by 2027, there is an increasing need to develop sophisticated data-analysis solutions that can guide management decisions in real time. A new study from an interdisciplinary research group at University of Illinois offers a promising approach to efficiently and accurately process precision ag data.

URBANA, Ill. – Starting weanling pigs off with the right diet can make all the difference for the health and productivity of the animal. A new University of Illinois study shows amino acids from a new torula yeast product are more digestible by young pigs than amino acids from fish meal.

URBANA, Ill. – The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois is proud to welcome nine faculty members who have joined since fall semester, 2019. Their expertise will add to the existing strengths in five academic units, as well as University of Illinois Extension, which is housed in the college.

Champaign, Ill. – The brightest minds in agtech will convene Wednesday, March 4 for the fifth annual AgTech Innovation Summit hosted by the University of Illinois Research Park and presented by Bayer and The Climate Corporation.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) Girish Chowdhary and his research in field robotics continue to make headlines! A Feb. 13 article in the New York Times (NYT) features TerraSentia, a small, autonomous robot resulting from Chowdhary’s research at the University of Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. – The prehistoric-looking alligator snapping turtle may be the largest freshwater turtle in North America, but that doesn’t make it easy to spot. The up-to-200-pound armored beasts have only been officially recorded in Illinois 16 times since the late 1800s. But, in a recent study, University of Illinois scientists have demonstrated an effective new method to detect the secretive reptiles in the wild.

URBANA, Ill. – The state of Illinois has experienced a consistent decrease in the population since 2014. A new report from the University of Illinois suggests statewide paid parental leave policy could be the part of the answer to reversing the flood of residents out of the state and invigorating population growth. 

URBANA, Ill. – Alexander County sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, at the southernmost tip of Illinois. The sparsely populated jurisdiction is perhaps best known for devastating floods resulting from repeated failures of the Len Small levee in 1993, 2011, and 2016. Homes and businesses have been severely damaged, residents stranded, and rich agricultural land irreversibly degraded by sand deposition and erosion.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Urban areas face increasing problems with stormwater management. Impervious surfaces on roads and buildings cause flooding, which impacts the water quality of streams, rivers and lakes. Green infrastructure, including features such as rain barrels, green roofs, rain gardens, and on-site water treatment, can provide affordable and environmentally sound ways to manage precipitation.