Agriculture

URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois weed scientists have confirmed resistance to the herbicide dicamba in a Champaign County waterhemp population. In the study, dicamba controlled 65% of the waterhemp in the field when applied at the labeled rate. And in the greenhouse, plants showed a 5-to-10-fold reduction in dicamba efficacy compared with sensitive plants.

URBANA, Ill. —  Two ACES researchers are amongst 6,600 researchers around the world recognized by Clarivate as Highly Cited Researchers. The highly anticipated annual list helps define the “who’s who” of influential researchers based on data and analysis performed by experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

URBANA, Ill. – When deciding how much nitrogen fertilizer to apply, farmers have options. The standard tool for the Midwest – the maximum return to nitrogen (MRTN) calculator – offers a static recommendation. It is based on hundreds of field trials, but doesn't vary much year to year.

URBANA, Ill. – When students walk into Anna Dilger’s classroom, they can expect play dough, cartoons, and dancing. But Dilger’s students aren’t kindergartners; they’re college students at the University of Illinois. And they’re learning from one of the best food and agriculture teachers in the country.

URBANA, Ill. – How do you like your rice? Sticky, fluffy, brown, or white? These qualities, in addition to grain length, width, appearance, and other traits, are hugely important predictors of rice sales and consumption worldwide. And region matters. Rice preferences in Latin America, for example, are very different from those in West Africa, Japan, India, and elsewhere.

URBANA, Ill. -- Millions of people in Asia are dependent on rice as a food source. Believed to have been domesticated as early as 6000 BCE, rice is an important source of calories globally. In a new study from the RIPE project, researchers compared domesticated rice to its wild counterparts to understand the differences in their photosynthetic capabilities. The results can help improve future rice productivity.

URBANA, Ill. – Organic farmers often struggle to meet the nitrogen demands of corn and other crops. Unlike conventional farmers, with their easy access to inexpensive inorganic nitrogen fertilizers, fewer commercial options are available for organic growers.

URBANA, Ill. – A new high-oil corn product offers greater amino acid and energy digestibility in growing pigs, according to new research from the University of Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. – New research from the University of Illinois shows sweet corn, when planted at high densities, has steadily increased in yield since the 1930s. The historical view underscores the importance of planting modern density-tolerant hybrids at their optimal densities, and suggests an opportunity to improve density tolerance even more.

Urbana, Ill. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced funding for a new project led by iSEE Interim Director Madhu Khanna, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, to optimize design for “agrivoltaic” systems – fields with both crops and solar panels – that will maintain crop production, produce renewable energy, and increase farm profitability.