News

Photo: A farm worker harvests cocoa pods at a cocoa farm in Côte d'Ivoire, by Jorge Sellare.

URBANA, Ill. – While agrifood production is essential for feeding our growing global population, it can also contribute to environmental and social problems, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, poor or precarious labor conditions, and persistent poverty. Certification and standards can encourage use of sustainable production practices, but how effective are such programs in addressing food system challenges? A new study from a team of international researchers reviews the literature on sustainability standards and identifies a series of important questions.

(Published in Landmarks magazine, August 2021)

A once thriving hotel and cultural hot spot in Clarksdale, Mississippi, now sits partially gutted and vacant, awaiting a day when it might be brought back to life. The New Alcazar Hotel in Clarksdale is among many buildings in the region that appear on the National Register of Historic Places but are now in disrepair. A former Mississippi State graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences analyzed the cultural and economic benefits of restoring structures like the Alcazar.

Land is the planet’s limiting resource. We need land for food, biofuel, feed, ecosystem services, and more. But all land is not equal. Concerns about diverting land under food/feed crops to biofuel feedstocks have led to interest in using marginal land to produce these dedicated bioenergy crops for advanced biofuels. Marginal land has typically been defined as land that is of low quality and not in food crop production. Since energy crops can grow productively on low-quality land, there’s great interest in the potential of energy crops on marginal land to avoid conflict with food production. 

A recent study led by Chongya Jiang, a University of Illinois Research Scientist at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), shows that researchers may be overestimating the amount of land that is available for bioenergy crops if they simply look at land that is low quality and low productivity. Results from this study by CABBI, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Research Center, were published in Environmental Science & Technology.

(From ACES.illinois.edu)

URBANA, Ill. ­– Most scientists agree climate change has a profound impact on U.S. agricultural production. But estimates vary widely, making it hard to develop mitigation strategies. Two agricultural economists at the University of Illinois take a closer look at how choice of statistical methodology influences climate study results. They also propose a more accurate and place-specific approach to data analysis.

"Do meal kits reduce food waste? USDA explores potential amid rise in plant-based convenience foods"

(Published on Food Ingredients First on July 29, 2021) - Meal kits have become more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many consumers turning to ready-to-assemble meals and subscription services for food that provides preparation convenience. But do meal kits help reduce food waste?

Brenna Ellison, associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, recently shared her insights on the sustainability credentials of meal kits.

“Meal kits are designed to provide households with precise quantities of ingredients to make a specific meal.