Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programmes aimed at achieving better broadscale pest control.

When the Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) launched in 2018, they were looking forward to the future. Like many other areas of commerce and big tech, agriculture is a rapidly changing industry. Advancements in technology have transformed farming. In the five-plus years since its launch, CDA has risen to meet those needs by creating adaptable, interdisciplinary curriculums, research programs, industry partnerships and training opportunities for scientists and students.

This year, CDA is celebrating its successes and more at the annual Center for Digital Agriculture conference, hosted right here on the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign campus at the iHotel and Illinois Conference Center. With a slate of new leadership, CDA has hosted the biggest and brightest conference yet with a theme of the “Future of Digital Agriculture,” an ambitious theme for an even more ambitious organization. CDA’s efforts to sustain the current needs of agriculture and anticipate future needs have been highly successful so far, with programs designed to train new experts in digital agriculture and repeated success in obtaining competitive grants for research in digital agriculture.

A new book by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert in law and policy explores the history and development of the U.S. conservation policy, offering insight into how Congress works, how policy is put together, and the challenge of balancing narrow and public interests in addressing pressing agricultural and environmental topics. 

Most analyses point to agriculture as the major source of nitrous oxide (N2O) globally. But there are a lot of variables within agriculture that can affect emissions. A recent University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study provides a comprehensive accounting for these factors, finding, among other things, that long-term no-till management can effectively cut N2O emissions.

The alarming rates of biodiversity loss worldwide have made clear that the classical way of governing biodiversity recovery based on protected areas and programmes for the protection of endangered species is not enough. To tackle this, almost 200 countries committed to the active ‘mainstreaming’ or integration of biodiversity targets into policies and plans across relevant sectors. However, research led by Utrecht University and UFZ Helmholz Centre for Environmental Research suggests that this has until now been largely ineffective due to non-binding commitments, vaguely formulated targets, “add-on” biodiversity initiatives, and too few resources. “Top down regulation is also needed,” say the authors.

Climate change is transforming dust storms—a natural phenomenon in the Middle East—into a more frequent and widespread threat to health and economies throughout the region, a new study shows.

For the first time, chemists in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering have created a highly reactive chemical compound that has eluded scientists for more than 120 years. The discovery could lead to new drug treatments, safer agricultural products, and better electronics.