URBANA, Ill. — Nearly half of the home-packed lunches that children brought to school each day rarely or never included vegetables, a University of Illinois researcher found in a new study of families in California.

However, the number of vegetables in kids’ lunches increased if they participated in deciding what foods to pack, said Carolyn Sutter, a postdoctoral research associate with the U. of I.’s Family Resiliency Center and the lead author of the study.

URBANA, Ill. – Just as a new farm bill sailed its way through the U.S. Senate and House last week, a newly released book by a University of Illinois law and policy expert explores the 100-year history of the farm bill, tracing the political evolution of American farm and food legislation.

URBANA, Ill. – Ethanol production has increased sharply in the United States in the past 10 years, leading to concerns about the expansion of demand for corn resulting in conversion of non-cropland to crop production and the environmental effects of this. However, a new study co-authored by a University of Illinois researcher shows that the overall effects of ethanol production on land-use have been minimal.

URBANA, Ill. – In biomedical research, plant breeding, and countless other endeavors, geneticists are on the hunt for the specific genes responsible for disease susceptibility, yield, and other traits of interest. Essentially, they’re looking for needles in the enormous haystack that is the genome of an organism.

As a frame of reference, the human genome is made up of 3.2 billion base pairs, an estimated 30,000 genes. Where do geneticists even start?

For the past 15 years, many have relied on genome-wide association studies (GWAS). 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new compound that targets a receptor within sarcoma cancer cells shrank tumors and hampered their ability to spread in mice and pigs, a study from researchers at the University of Illinois reports.

URBANA, Ill. – When humans experience stress, their inner turmoil may not be apparent to an outside observer. But many animals deal with stressful circumstances – overcrowded conditions, not enough food – by completely remodeling their bodies. These stress-induced forms, whether they offer a protective covering or more camouflaged coloration, can better withstand the challenge and help the animal survive until conditions improve.

Urging younger people “to join the agricultural field to save humanity,” the Director General of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Ruben G.

URBANA, Ill. – A team based in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois will help Sierra Leone enhance its institutions of higher education by supporting outcome-based education and developing a framework for quality control as part of a project funded by the United Kingdom (UK)’s Department for International Development (DFID).

URBANA, Ill. - The 2019 Certified Livestock Manager Training workshops, will be held in 11 locations throughout the state, beginning Jan. 30 in Springfield and concluding Feb. 28 back in Springfield. The University of Illinois Extension workshops provide Illinois livestock producers the manure management training they need to meet the requirements of the state's Livestock Management Facilities Act.

URBANA, Ill. – Speakers from University of Illinois Extension and the farmdoc team from the U of I Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics will explore topics such as the 2019 outlook for crop and livestock prices, the farm profitability outlook and management challenges, the next farm bill, long-term trends in grain prices, and prospects for farmland values at the 2018 Illinois Farm Economics Summit in December.