The international agricultural and rural development community lost an influential and passionate advocate last week. Burton Swanson, professor emeritus of rural development in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, passed away after a long illness on April 23, 2020.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Climate change creates extreme weather patterns that are especially challenging for people in developing countries and can severely impact agricultural yield and food security. International aid organizations have invested billions of dollars in promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, but the effects of those programs are rarely documented.

URBANA, Ill. ­– Soybean production in Africa and other developing regions has the potential to alleviate hunger and boost local economies. But the transition from traditional crops such as cowpea or cassava to a major commercial crop such as soybean is fraught with challenges.

URBANA, Ill. – The Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL) was awarded a $335,005 grant from the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI) to address malnutrition in Malawi. SIL’s nutrition team is housed in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.

The College of ACES recently hosted a delegation from its longtime partner, India’s G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT). The visit was motivated by GBPUAT’s interest in using funding from India’s National Agricultural Higher Education Program (NAHEP) to revitalize its relationship with the University of Illinois.

An upcoming symposium hosted by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) will further the University of Illinois’ interdisciplinary work towards food security.

To encourage and support ACES undergraduate students to pursue work related to food and nutritional security in low and middle income countries, the ACES Office of International Programs has launched the Global Food Security Scholars internship program.

Five talented and motivated ACES undergraduate students have been selected to receive salary support for an approved on-campus internship during spring semester 2020. Selected scholars will also receive up to $1500 to support the costs of participating in an international travel experience that is associated with the internship.

URBANA, Ill. – The U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.

URBANA, Ill. – Affirmative action policies (AAP) such as quota systems based on racial or socio-economic criteria are often recommended as a way to increase enrollment of underrepresented students in higher education. But those policies can be controversial and their results are sometimes questioned.

URBANA, Ill. – School test scores often show gaps in performance between white and non-white students. Understanding the complex reasons behind this can help reduce those gaps and promote social equality, explains Mary Paula Arends-Kuenning, associate professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois.

Arends-Kuenning is co-author of a study that analyzes math test scores for 9^th-grade students in Brazil and breaks down the characteristics associated with performance gaps between different racial groups.