Latest News

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.

October 29, 2024

Is the floating freshwater fern commonly called Carolina azolla the potential answer to global food insecurity or a possible threat to humanity? On the heels of a study published earlier this year by researchers at Penn State on the plant’s nutrition and digestibility, the team learned of concerns about the plant’s potential toxin content. The researchers joined an international effort to test Azolla and found that it does not contain cyanotoxins, potent toxins produced by a type of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, associated with the plant.

October 29, 2024

The Penn State Climate Consortium has awarded funding to four research projects through its Climate Solutions Accelerator Program. Through this program, the consortium aims to put promising climate solutions into action via interdisciplinary partnerships. Each of these projects were part of the Climate Solutions Accelerator Level 2 call for proposals.

October 29, 2024

A compound found in African wormwood — a plant used medicinally for thousands of years to treat many types of illness — could be effective against tuberculosis, according to a new study that is available online and will be published in the October edition of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

October 29, 2024

An international team, including researchers from Penn State, has been awarded $1 million to compare climate risks and resilience in Arctic and Pacific Indigenous communities.

October 29, 2024

Ram Neupane, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, received a $10,000 research award given by the Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation.

October 29, 2024

A project aimed at helping prepare undergraduate students to serve as future agricultural educators has received $750,000 in renewed funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

August 13, 2024

Indigenous communities around the globe face profound threats from climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. Now, an international team that includes researchers from Penn State have been awarded $5 million by the U.S. National Science Foundation, along with funding from Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, to investigate how to mitigate these threats.

July 30, 2024

New study shows how childcare difficulties have wide, rippling effects on farm enterprises. In the study, over three quarters of farm families with children under 18 reported that they had experienced childcare challenges, largely due to cost and availability, which means tha­t they often must cobble together multiple paid and unpaid childcare options. Credit: pixdeluxe/Getty Images / Penn State. Creative Commons

July 11, 2024

Food Science/Horticulture 499: Comparing the Science and Business of Wine in the U.S. and Italy, was held in the spring semester and led by Ryan Elias, professor and associate head of food science; Kathy Kelley, professor of horticultural marketing and business management; and Michela Centinari, associate professor of viticulture. The curriculum covered topics such as grapevine physiology, vineyard management, wine chemistry and production, Italian wine styles, and consumer interactions with wine.

July 9, 2024

The U.S. Department of State has commended the Ag Sciences Global office in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences for its exceptional commitment to organizing the 2024 Gilman Global Food Security Seminar Series. This recognition underscores the college’s dedication in successfully coordinating a virtual speaker series this past spring and an in-person meeting — the Gilman Foreign Policy in Focus: Global Food Security Seminar — in early June in Washington, D.C. These events provided a platform for meaningful discussions and knowledge sharing.

July 9, 2024

A team led by researchers at Penn State has created a genetic information resource to help plant breeders develop resistant strains of cacao that can be grown sustainably in its native Amazon and elsewhere, such as the tropical latitudes of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

July 9, 2024

Growing up in a small village in Nepal, a country in South Asia, Dibyajoti Burlakoti vividly remembers her family’s financial struggles after a herd of greater one-horned rhinos roamed through her family’s banana farm, consuming and trampling the family’s crop.

July 9, 2024

New research from an international team, including a Penn State researcher, demonstrates — for the first time — the use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in kissing bugs and opens the door to research on applied strategies for Chagas disease control.

July 9, 2024

Penn State’s Climate Consortium announced the awarded workshops from its Climate Solutions Accelerator program. Eleven Penn State researchers were awarded funding to hold workshops in spring 2024 designed to engage a wide range of participants in creating and deploying climate change solutions.

May 3, 2024

Between Subsistence and Sustainability on Isla Fuerte, Colombia

April 10, 2024

Stephanie Buechler (Ag Sciences Global), Kathy Kelley (Plant Sciences), and Michaela Centinari (Plant Sciences), together with research assistants Zoelie Rivera and Sarah Peachey, developed a policy brief based on the findings of their interdisciplinary, applied project, 'Women Grape and Wine Producers in Pennsylvania, USA and Mendoza, Argentina: Meeting Sustainability Challenges through Networks.'

April 5, 2024

David Hughes, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security and professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences and biology in the Eberly College of Science, is the recipient of the 2024 W. LaMarr Kopp International Faculty Achievement Award.

April 5, 2024

The team — led by Luyi Han, a postdoctoral researcher in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences — examined the effect of several factors on a firm’s decision to engage in international trade, including innovation activities, owner characteristics and firm characteristics. They found that firms, or for-profit commercial enterprises, that are more innovative are more likely to engage in exports, as are older and larger firms or those with multiple owners.

March 26, 2024

In findings recently published in Crop Science, they describe a process in which the depth of plant roots can be accurately estimated by scanning leaves with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, a process that detects chemical elements in the foliage. The method recognizes that roots take up elements they encounter, depending on the depth they reach, and a correlation exists between chemical elements in the leaves and root depth.