Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to use very small amounts of fertilizer, limiting their crop productivity. A 2016 intervention in Tanzania increased farmers’ fertilizer use and their crop yields. However, a follow-up study from an international team of researchers found the 2016 effects proved temporary, and farmers have since reverted to baseline low rates of fertilizer use and low crop yields.

Feeding an ever-growing human population is one of the major grand challenges we face — especially with the impact agriculture can have on climate change. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and partners in Singapore are taking a novel approach to this challenge: creating food building blocks at the microbial level.

Jarai Carter didn’t know she could combine her passions for big data and agriculture when she enrolled as a crop sciences major in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. But today, as a senior manager of data science at John Deere, Carter leverages her interests to develop products with engineering solutions to make farming more efficient, sustainable, and profitable.

Organic farming can support soil microorganisms that promote plant defenses and reduce insect pests. But not all organic practices are equally beneficial for soil microbes, and it’s important to understand farmer motivations in order to encourage the adoption of microbiome-supportive efforts.

The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will take part in the 200th-anniversary celebration of Funk Farms, one of the oldest and most historically significant farms in the Midwest. The free event — featuring food, local venders, and live music — will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, at Funk Farms, 5959 N 1100 East Road, Shirley, Illinois. 

With planting in the rearview mirror, Illinois farmers can catch up on the latest science during Agronomy Days from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment has awarded $30,000 in seed funding to Andrew Hultgren, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, and others for an interdisciplinary proposal examining the economic and human health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke on a broad scale. The project aims to inform policy related to climate change.

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day. But it was beyond important for Henry Leung, PHD ’75 ACES, and Cecilia Tsun-Tai Jen Leung, MS ’71 ACES, PHD ’74 ACES, back when they were international graduate students—he from Hong Kong, and she from Taiwan.