CPSC

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide, ground-level ozone is on the rise. But ozone, a noxious chemical byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, has received relatively little attention as a potential threat to corn agriculture.

URBANA, Ill. – A team including scientists from the University of Illinois has identified the ways in which glyphosate-resistant waterhemp has emerged in corn and soybean fields in southwestern Ontario.

Today, as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly, hundreds of emerging leaders focused on fighting global inequality came together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s third annual Goalkeepers event in New York City.

URBANA, Ill. – Corn, soybean, and cotton farmers shudder at the thought of Palmer amaranth invading their fields. The aggressive cousin of waterhemp – itself a formidable adversary – grows extremely rapidly, produces hundreds of thousands of seeds per plant, and is resistant to multiple classes of herbicides, including glyphosate.

URBANA, Ill. – Bacterial leaf streak, a foliar disease in corn, has only been in the United States for a handful of years, but Tiffany Jamann says it’s a major problem in the Western Corn Belt.

URBANA, Ill. – This fall, 15 new faculty members join the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Their expertise will add to the existing strengths in six academic departments, college administrative units, and University of Illinois Extension, which is housed in the college.

URBANA, Ill. – Chicago’s urban agriculture scene may be booming, but a hidden danger – lead – may lurk in the soil. The Chicago Safe Soils Initiative, a new project from the University of Illinois, offers free soil lead tests to home gardeners and urban farmers across the metropolitan region.

URBANA, Ill. – Waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, two aggressive weeds that threaten the food supply in North America, are increasingly hard to kill with commercially available herbicides. A novel approach known as genetic control could one day reduce the need for these chemicals. Now, scientists are one step closer.

URBANA, Ill. – A corn gene identified from a 118-year-old experiment at the University of Illinois could boost yields of today’s elite hybrids with no added inputs. The gene, identified in a recent Plant Biotechnology Journal study, controls a critical piece of senescence, or seasonal die-back, in corn. When the gene is turned off, field-grown elite hybrids yielded 4.6 bushels more per acre on average than standard plants.

Champaign, Ill. –– For thousands of years, plants have produced food for humans, but with genetic tweaks, they can also manufacture proteins like Ebola vaccines, antibodies to combat a range of conditions, and now, cellulase that is used in food processing and to break down crop waste to create biofuel.