URBANA, Ill. – Plagued by the state’s budget impasse, the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois will shut down for the second time on July 1. Contractors have received written notifications from the Capital Development Board to prepare the site for demobilization. 

Facing a vast array of food and nutrition security problems in the U.S. and abroad that pose significant humanitarian, environmental, and national security risks, a commission of prominent researchers and leaders from public universities, government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector this week issued a report outlining a comprehensive strategy to tackle global food security.

URBANA, Ill. – Eight professors in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois have been recognized as among the best in the nation in agricultural education.

URBANA, Ill. - The 2017 ABE Spring Awards Banquet was held Sunday, April 9 at the I-Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni attended the celebration. Christine Ansani and Jacob Vandermyde were the student emcees for the evening. Alan Hansen, Interim Department Head, ABE, and Kim Kidwell, Dean of the College of ACES, gave opening remarks.

URBANA, Ill. - Jeremy Ross is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Alumni award for the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Ross, a 1995 graduate in agricultural mechanization, is the founder and CEO of First-Light USA, a company that designs and manufactures high-end tactical flashlights.

First-Light USA is located in Seymour, Ill., and Ross founded the company in September of 2004. Their products are primarily sold to customers within the military and to federal law enforcement agencies.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A semiautonomous robot may soon be roaming agricultural fields gathering and transmitting real-time data about the growth and development of crops, information that crop breeders – and eventually farmers – can use to identify the genetic traits in plants likely to produce the greatest yields.

URBANA, Ill. – The 60th annual Agronomy Day will be held at the University of Illinois on Thursday, Aug. 17. Equipment and crop varieties may have changed, but the goal of Agronomy Day has been consistent since its inception in 1957: to communicate cutting-edge research results that will benefit the Illinois farming community.

• Bioenergy crops grown on U.S. soil can produce inexhaustible and sustainable domestic source of fuel, lessening our reliance on limited and often foreign fossil fuel reserves. 

• Naturally, sugarcane plants produce sugar but hardly any oil. Researchers developed sugarcane that produces enough oil for biodiesel production as well as even more sugar for ethanol production.

• This dual-purpose bioenergy crop could produce biofuel on marginal land in the Southeastern United States that is not well suited to most food crops.

• Riparian erosion is one of the major causes of sediment and contaminant load to streams.
• Soil type and land use are two of the most important variables in riparian erosion.
• Identifying the most vulnerable areas for riparian erosion allows conservation and management practices to focus on areas needing the most attention and resources.

Urbana, Ill. - Researchers at the University of Illinois collaborated with colleagues in Oklahoma to identify areas along a riparian zone, that is, alongside rivers that are susceptible to erosion.

The Agricultural and Biological Engineering turns the spotlight on to honor our talented students.  Please join us as we gather to lift up and recognize our tremendously talented students.

Sunday, April 9th, at the I-Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 South First Street, Champaign, IL.  A social hour will start at 4:00 pm.  Dinner will follow at 5:00 pm with the ceremony starting at 6:00 pm in the Illinois Room.