Agriculture
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Will renaming carp help control them?
Illinois officials this month announced that Asian carp would now be called “copi” in an attempt to make the fish more desirable for eating. Joseph Parkos, the director of the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Kaskaskia, Ridge Lake and Sam Parr biological stations in Illinois, spoke with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about scientific […]
Corn genetic heritage the strongest driver of chemical defenses against munching bugs
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Plants release chemical distress signals when under attack from chewing insects. These “911 calls,” as entomologist Esther Ngumbi refers to them, alert other bugs that dinner or a nice place to lay their eggs is available nearby. If predatory or parasitic insects detect the right signal, they swoop in like saviors to […]
Will Russian invasion of Ukraine spark a global food crisis?
Scott Irwin is the Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing in the department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Irwin, an expert in agricultural commodity markets, spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about the potential for a global food crisis. Are we on the verge […]
How do we solve the problem of agricultural nutrient runoff?
Agricultural runoff from Midwestern farms is a major contributor to a vast “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen, phosphorous and other farm nutrients drain into the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf, spurring algae to overpopulate and suffocating other aquatic life. Illinois is a main culprit in this ongoing environmental blight. News […]
Overweight dogs respond well to high-protein, high-fiber diet
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A study of overweight dogs fed a reduced calorie, high-protein, high-fiber diet for 24 weeks found that the dogs’ body composition and inflammatory markers changed over time in ways that parallel the positive changes seen in humans on similar diets. The dogs achieved a healthier weight without losing too much muscle mass, […]
Climate adaptation increases vulnerability of cocoa farmers, study shows
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New research offers an alternative perspective on adaptation to climate threats in Southeast Asia. Sean Kennedy, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, looked at the ways that small cocoa farmers in Indonesia are adapting to threats from climate change, including prolonged drought. He found that […]
Study provides basis to evaluate food subsectors’ emissions of three greenhouse gases
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new, location-specific agricultural greenhouse gas emission study is the first to account for net carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from all subsectors related to food production and consumption. The work, led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign atmospheric sciences professor Atul Jain, could help identify the primary plant- and animal-based […]
Is the future of agriculture digital?
With colleagues at several institutions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign crop sciences professor Stephen Moose will lead the development of a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems. With $25 million in newly announced funding, the center “will create an Internet of Living Things to learn the intimate biological language […]
Less salt, more protein: Researchers address dairy processing’s environmental, sustainability issues
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers say the high salt content of whey – the watery part of milk left behind after cheesemaking – helps make it one of the most polluting byproducts in the food processing industry. In a new study, chemists demonstrate the first electrochemical redox desalination process used in the food industry, removing and […]
New imaging, machine-learning methods speed effort to reduce crops’ need for water
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have developed and deployed a series of new imaging and machine-learning tools to discover attributes that contribute to water-use efficiency in crop plants during photosynthesis and to reveal the genetic basis of variation in those traits. The findings are described in a series of four research papers led by University of […]
Nutrient-rich human waste poised to sustain agriculture, improve economies
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The future connection between human waste, sanitation technology and sustainable agriculture is becoming more evident. According to research directed by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign civil and environmental engineering professor Jeremy Guest, countries could be moving closer to using human waste as fertilizer, closing the loop to more circular, sustainable economies. A new […]
Study: Domestic control of COVID-19 takes priority over international travel bans
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Since COVID-19 reached global pandemic status, many countries have faced containment pressures from both domestic and international transmission after experiencing multiple epidemic waves. But according to a new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign urban and environmental economics expert, taming domestic transmission of the novel coronavirus ought to be prioritized […]