Latest News

June 4, 2025

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences was represented on the global stage as faculty and students participated in the United Nations' 10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, held at U.N. headquarters in New York City earlier this month.

June 4, 2025

For 40 years, the international agriculture minor in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has enhanced students' understanding of agriculture on a global scale by exploring diverse countries, addressing real-world issues, and engaging with local communities at home and abroad.

May 14, 2025

Forty members of the Dairy Science Club in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences traveled to the Netherlands during spring break to learn more about global agriculture and explore a new culture.

May 14, 2025

Twelve educators from across the country had the opportunity to explore one technology — artificial intelligence (AI) — during a recent immersive workshop at Penn State University Park.

May 14, 2025

Penn State Global has announced the 2024-25 recipients of its annual awards that recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals and academic programs at Penn State who have contributed to advancing the University's global engagement goals.

April 9, 2025

Eight accomplished young alumni who have made remarkable impacts in their professional fields received the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award during a ceremony held by the Penn State Alumni Association on March 28.

April 9, 2025

While rural areas are more dependent on manufacturing than their urban peers, they are less likely to participate in global markets. Researchers at Penn State have identified several factors that explain why

April 9, 2025

Penn State is one of nine Big Ten schools providing an academic lifeline to scholars in war-torn Ukraine.

March 17, 2025

Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded second prize in the Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA) 2030 research competition for her work titled “Improving Food Safety in Controlled Environment Agriculture Systems.”

February 17, 2025

The Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization, the most prestigious in the field of international education, is awarded to up to five universities per year.

February 17, 2025

Noel Habashy, assistant teaching professor of international agriculture and development at Penn State University Park, recently completed an Experiential Digital Global Engagement (EDGE) project with students from his course, INTAG 100N: Everyone Eats: Hunger, Food Security and Global Agriculture, and partners from Riga Stradiņš University, Latvia.

February 17, 2025

Fish farming is key to food security in Africa; study shows that optimized agricultural resource management helps fish farmers in Zambia

February 17, 2025

Microorganisms collected from the material in which button mushrooms are grown may benefit the development of future fungi crops, according to a study led by researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and published in the journal Fungal Biology.

January 17, 2025

The Global Teach Ag Network (GTAN) at Penn State has been awarded the Bringing the World to Pennsylvania: K-16 Collaboration Award from the Pennsylvania Council for International Education.

January 17, 2025

PlantVillage, a Penn State-based research lab, is working with smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and the Americas to adapt to climate-related challenges. To guide its expansion and commercial efforts, PlantVillage participated in the Invent Penn State NSF I-Corps regional short course, which helps researchers start on the path toward commercializing their innovations.

January 5, 2025

As a second-year master’s degree student in rural sociology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Zoe Chambliss seeks ways to expand her knowledge in the role of women in agriculture and rural development.

December 20, 2024

In a study recently published in the Journal of Melittology, an international team of researchers looked at the heat tolerance for a variety of species of bees and flies in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Their findings suggest that rising temperatures pose a greater threat to flies than bees, as bees can tolerate much higher temperatures than flies and have a wider habitat range.

December 16, 2024

A team of researchers has found that farm women experience a “triple burden”: simultaneously juggling different roles on- and off-the farm, often handling the invisible labor of caring for their households, children and farms. Their new study, recently published in the Journal of Agromedicine, revealed a significant portion of stressors these women face are mostly invisible, such as the mental load of childcare, researching farm needs, working off the farm, planning meals, organizing medical appointments and more — in short, all of the things needed to make a household and farm run.

December 12, 2024

Penn State tied for No. 2 among 237 ranked universities in the United States in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability for 2025, released Dec. 10. Internationally, the University rose 18 places in this year’s rankings to tie for No. 19 out of 1,743 participating institutions worldwide. Penn State also ranked at No. 1 among Big Ten institutions and No. 2 among all U.S. public universities.

December 4, 2024

delegation of Penn State faculty and graduate students attended the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia. The delegation, registered as official observers, included Mónica Medina, professor of biology; Siela Maximova, research professor of plant biotechnology and director for Latin America and the Caribbean for Penn State Global; Margarita Lopez-Uribe, associate professor of entomology; Estelle Couradeau, assistant professor of soils and environmental microbiology; Camila Gonzalez Arango, a doctoral student studying agricultural and biological engineering; and Julian Prieto, doctoral student studying education policy and leadership. Medina, who led the delegation, participated in more than a dozen COP16 events, including leading panels on the preservation of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the International Coral Reef Initiative Pavillion, hosting a public screening of a feature-length documentary on the decline of the world's coral reefs and a follow-up panel discussion, and launching the "SciArtsSymbiosis" initiative, which brought together scientists and artists to work together toward biodiversity conservation.

December 3, 2024

Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences’ Global Teach Ag Network is launching a new program focusing on professional development for teachers in agriculture, thanks to new funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The program — called Educators Empowering Educators, or E3 — will gather master educators from across the nation passionate about expanding global agricultural literacy as framed by USDA’s six Agriculture and Food Research Initiative priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition and health; bioenergy, natural resources and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agricultural economics and rural communities.

December 3, 2024

In recognition of Penn State’s impactful contributions to cacao and chocolate research — spanning the improvement of the chocolate tree, the social and ecological impacts of cacao cultivation, chocolate manufacturing and marketing, and health benefits — the government of Ecuador presented the University and its College of Agricultural Sciences with a replica of an ancient ceramic vessel.

December 3, 2024

A two-week food science summer school was hosted by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences this past July, giving undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to learn from experts both internal and external to the University.

December 3, 2024

Able to store carbon to offset emissions and prevent soil degradation and pollution, charcoal-like biochar could offer a sustainable solution to a lot of environmental challenges — if its production can be made greener. Supported by a three-year, $799,883 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an international team led by researchers at Penn State will address the so-called “dark side” of biochar, assessing the threat of organic contaminant residues in biorefinery char products.

December 3, 2024

The December episode of “Growing Impact” highlights an innovative project revolutionizing farming practices in Africa and beyond — PlantVillage. Leveraging the power of smartphones, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, PlantVillage has become a lifeline for millions of farmers across Africa, Asia and the Americas.

November 19, 2024

The Chesapeake Bay faces increasing human and environmental challenges, according to Michael Jacobson, professor of forest resources in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, including rapid population growth, environmental impacts from energy development and water quality deterioration. Focusing on these challenges within the water-energy-food nexus framework, Jacobson co-led the second Collaborative Learning School, a year-round virtual networking community of faculty, students and early career professionals that culminates in a two-week summer field workshop with U.S. and African scientists and practitioners. The school, which was held in Uganda last year, is funded by a five-year, $2 million U.S. National Science Foundation grant and is an initiative of the SustainFood Network.

November 19, 2024

Phosphorus, a nutrient in soil essential for sustaining most forms of life, is increasingly disappearing from land as it is washed into waterways throughout the United States, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. The study, published today (Nov. 18) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed data from 430 rivers across the U.S. and found that phosphorus loss from agricultural lands has increased over the past four decades, despite efforts to reduce it. This loss of phosphorus can potentially lead to decreased crop yields, which could drive up the cost of food, the researchers explained.

November 14, 2024

The Penn State One Health Microbiome Center has been selected as the winner of the 2024 WH Pierce Global Impact in Microbiology Prize by Applied Microbiology International. This prize “acknowledges and celebrates individuals, teams, or organizations that have made groundbreaking contributions to global challenges through applied microbiology.” As part of the decision-making process, the award also encompasses a broad spectrum of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, illustrating the versatile and wide-ranging impact of microbiology in various global contexts.

November 6, 2024

Jonathan Lynch, distinguished professor of plant nutrition, retired this fall after an innovative and impactful 33-year career in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, focused on conducting research to alleviate world hunger and enhance crop production by subsistence farmers in developing countries.

October 29, 2024

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has been selected to host a prestigious World Food Forum Youth Food Lab, a key initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to address global food security and climate change.