A warming Midwest increases likelihood that farmers will need to irrigate
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — If current climate and crop-improvement trends continue into the future, Midwestern corn growers who today rely on rainfall to water their crops will need to irrigate their fields, a new study finds. This could draw down aquifers, disrupt streams and rivers, and set up conflicts between agricultural and other human and ecological needs for water, scientists say.
Long elected to National Academy of Sciences
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Stephen P. Long, a professor of crop sciences and plant biology at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. He is one of 100 new members and 25 foreign associates recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
Prestigious NSF CAREER award goes to Illinois researcher to study long-term sustainability in the US Corn Belt
URBANA, Ill. – The U.S. Corn Belt produces about a third of the world’s corn and soybean supply, but with further intensification and a changing climate, it’s not clear whether the Corn Belt can remain environmentally sustainable over the long term. With a new five-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s flagship CAREER award, Illinois scientist Kaiyu Guan aims to find out.
Major gift elevates U of I work in sustainability
URBANA, Ill. — Sustainability leadership, research, education, and practices will remain at the forefront of University of Illinois priorities, thanks in part to significant endowments from Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick of Naples, Florida.
Mr. Levenick, a U of I alumnus who captained the 1975 Illini football team and received a B.S. in forestry in 1976, and his wife have designated this major endowment in two parts: