Building on its existing efforts towards more sustainable agriculture, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences is collaborating with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to enhance hydroponic plant growth by using optimal nutrient solutions from treated wastewater.

Hydroponics–growing crops without soil–is becoming more popular due to the demand for locally grown and healthy food in all climates. 

Developing a thriving soybean market in Africa doesn’t just represent a new crop in the rotation for smallholder farmers — it builds an entire ecosystem of seed companies, processors, and trade partners ready to enter the global soybean market. The Soybean Innovation Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been working toward this reality for more than a decade. 

A longstanding, impactful program housed in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has announced its newest cohort of faculty members who will strengthen ACES connections and impacts around the world. 

The 2025-2026 ACES Global Academy: Partnerships for Global Impact program includes five two-person faculty teams that will work on an international research project together while also participating in a series of relevant seminars and roundtable discussions to build skills and knowledge about international work. 

Eight undergraduates from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) have been selected to participate in an on-campus, paid internship program to pursue work related to global food and nutritional security. 

“This is essentially a paid research experience to work in a lab for an ACES professor,” says Lauren Karplus, assistant director of international programs for ACES, who manages the internship program. 

With a strategic location in the Indian Ocean and a tropical climate that allows for year-round cultivation of diverse crops, the island country of Sri Lanka provides valuable opportunities for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students to learn, compare, and collaborate on topics of food and agribusiness management.

Malawi’s Lower Shire Valley is changing. Over 14 years, the Shire Valley Transformation Program will turn 42,500 hectares (over 105,000 acres) into irrigated farmland, giving nearly 50,000 smallholder farmers a real chance at building prosperity and generational wealth.

Literacy rates in Sub-Saharan Africa remain low, despite increased primary school enrollment. In rural Mozambique, only 3% of children possess grade-level reading skills. Poor learning outcomes in lower grades are a barrier to further expanding school enrollment at higher grade levels.

A long trusted resource for corn belt farmers developed at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has expanded its portfolio to provide in-person and online targeted professional development to agricultural professionals worldwide. 

Faculty from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences are teaming up with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) on groundbreaking projects to tackle climate change and drive the future of the bioeconomy.  

The three selected projects from a competitive open call for proposals are: