Latest News

October 30, 2023

A new grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will fund a new project aiming to reduce food waste by finding opportunities for foods that were previously considered undesirable to enter grocery stores and other sectors of the market across the United States.

October 24, 2023

A team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to generate knowledge and tools, such as national-level predictive models, to develop a better understanding of how changes in soil texture and structure influence the availability of water for crops.

October 24, 2023

Selenium-enriched diets may help ward off myeloid leukemia, and a new study led by researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has described the mechanism by which this occurs.

October 23, 2023

With male infertility a mounting global concern impacting approximately 12% of men, according to the National Institutes of Health, a Penn State research team has discovered a gene that plays a key role in initiating and sustaining spermatogenesis. The finding, they said, may open a door for future therapies to boost sperm counts. 

October 20, 2023

A sustainable resin material comprising agriculturally derived components could potentially replace plastics used in large-format 3D printing, which can produce furniture, boats and other similarly sized objects, according to a team of Penn State agricultural and biological engineers.

October 17, 2023

A nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will support research on soil health and weed suppression in organic farming.

October 12, 2023

True altruism is rare behavior in animals, but a new study by Penn State researchers has found that honey bees display this trait. Additionally, they found that an evolutionary battle of genetics may determine the parent they inherit it from.

October 4, 2023

Farmers are used to growing crops and producing other goods, but a new study led by Penn State researchers suggests the social media platform TikTok may help them cultivate something new: empathy around the issue of climate change.

October 4, 2023

Despite decades of decline, a genetic analysis of ruffed grouse reveals that Pennsylvania’s state bird harbors more genetic diversity and connectivity than expected. The findings suggest that the iconic game bird could be maintained in persistent numbers if appropriate protections are implemented. The study, led by Penn State and Pennsylvania Game Commission researchers, published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

October 4, 2023

A group of Penn State students recently traveled to Australia as part of a partnership between Penn State and Monash University to conduct research aimed at better understanding sources of decreased water quality in watersheds, in addition to finding possible solutions.

October 3, 2023

A $574,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health will help support a new climate change and health research area in Penn State’s Population Research Institute.

October 2, 2023

Penn State’s “Stories from the Field” conversation series is returning with two fall sessions. Speakers will share stories and lessons learned from programs devoted to farmers’ mental health and workers affected by substance use disorders.

October 1, 2023

A longtime faculty member and research leader in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will serve in the newly created role of associate director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. The Agricultural Experiment Station is the college's umbrella organization for managing and reporting state and federally funded research.

September 29, 2023

A video that highlights the work a Penn State team is doing to 3D print houses that can sustain life on Mars is featured in a new $8.5 million core exhibit opening Nov. 4 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. 

September 22, 2023

Funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S Department of Agriculture, a Penn State-led research team will assess levels of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in Puerto Rico's dairy industry and train farmers and students to mitigate the health threat they pose in the U.S. territory.

September 14, 2023

Some scientists believe the Paramos, a grassland ecosystem found in the northern Andes Mountains of South America, are “the world’s fastest evolving and coolest biodiversity hotspot,” according to Estelle Couradeau, assistant professor of soils and environmental microbiology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. This ecosystem — which is the prime headwater for lower tropical ecosystems and downstream urban centers in the Andean and the Orinoco-Amazon regions — is in jeopardy, she explained. Couradeau will lead a National Science Foundation-funded international team conducting research on how climate change will affect soil microbes in the ecologically fragile and important Paramos ecosystem in Colombia’s Andes Mountains.

September 12, 2023

With a new $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Carolyn Lowry, a plant scientist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, will lead a research team designing cover crop mixtures that are more effective at providing an array of ecosystem services.

September 12, 2023

David M. Geiser, professor of mycology in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, was elected to the executive leadership of the Mycological Society of America, where he will serve successive terms as vice president, president-elect, president and past president over the next four years.

September 6, 2023

Reduced protein feed for dairy cows is designed to decrease environmental nitrogen pollution from their manure such as nitrate leaching, nutrient-laden run-off and ammonia volatilization, but can lower milk production. A Penn State-led research team found that supplementing the feed with the amino acid histidine may help in maintaining, and even increasing, milk and milk-protein yields.  

September 5, 2023

A team of Penn State researchers recently held a workshop in Ghana on how gender affects dynamics within the agriculture industry. The trip capped a multi-year effort to better understand time poverty among women peanut farmers.

September 5, 2023

In 2012, when the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) arrived in the U.S. from its home in China, scientists, land managers and growers were concerned that the sap-feeding insect would damage native and commercial trees. New long-term research led by Penn State has revealed that hardwood trees, such as maple, willow and birch, may be less vulnerable than initially thought.

September 1, 2023

New updates have come to 'Beescape,' an online tool created by a Penn State-led team for assessing the quality of landscapes for supporting bees and other pollinators.

September 1, 2023

Season 4 of the “Growing Impact” podcast opens with an episode that dives into plastic waste, specifically plastic film, and a potential biological solution of upcycling the material with fungi.

August 29, 2023

A dairy pricing policy originally proposed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic could have resulted in dairy farmers getting 10% more for their products if the policy had been passed, according to a Penn State study.

August 28, 2023

A team of Penn State researchers has received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to spearhead a new initiative to create novel monitoring systems for insect populations, many of which are experiencing dramatic changes across the globe due to changes in land use, pollution and climate change.

August 25, 2023

A diet including a carefully selected assortment of microgreens may help address an individual’s nutritional deficiencies, according to a Penn State researcher who led an international team that evaluated the mineral content in young specimens of 17 different plant species.

August 23, 2023

Erika Ganda, assistant professor of food animal microbiomes and executive committee member of Penn State’s One Health Microbiome Center, was recently awarded two grants totaling $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lead teams of scientists in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Extension in studies of pathogenic threats to livestock and people.

August 22, 2023

The One Health Microbiome Center in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State has named five recipients for its 2023-24 Interdisciplinary Innovation Fellowships program, which aims to promote collaborative training opportunities for center members and research development.

August 21, 2023

Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences graduate students received more predoctoral fellowships from the U.S. Department of Agriculture than any other institution over the last five years. This year, five of the 11 recipients worked in the college’s long-term cover crop cocktails experiment.