Conventional food and agricultural production systems employ a linear “take, make, waste” approach: taking natural resources from the Earth to make food and fuel, generating waste that contaminates the soil and water, and emitting harmful pollutants.
As part of a prestigious fellowship sponsored by The Norman Borlaug Institute, Molly Boyd, a 2024 graduate from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
ACES professors Shadi Atallah and Andrew Margenot are among 15 Illinois faculty selected for the 2024-25 Emerging Research Leaders Academy by the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute. Designed for mid-career faculty to achieve research success, the program provides vital leadership and team science training to pursue large, multi-PI grants, lead ca
A program operating within the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that assists farmers with financial management and decision-making welcomes a new CEO this August, while also celebrating a monumental milestone in their history.
Digital technologies on the farm improve efficiency, productivity, and profits, but few farmers are taking full advantage of available tools. According to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers, communication channels play an important role in farmers’ decision-making process around technology adoption.
Researchers analyzed the financial and environmental costs and benefits of four biofuels crops used to produce sustainable aviation fuels in the U.S. They found that each feedstock — corn stover, energy sorghum, miscanthus or switchgrass — performed best in a specific region of the rainfed United States. Their study will help growers and policymakers select the feedstocks most suited to meeting goals like reducing production costs, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and building soil carbon stocks.
The world is your classroom at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences. While our campus buzzes with diverse connections and innovative ideas, our education abroad programs take learning across oceans and to new heights, from mountain tops to jungles.
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.
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.