Volume 5 | Issue 1
D I S COVER Research that matters from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Research within the College of ACES impacts all our lives. With expertise in agriculture and the environment, data and technology, family and communities, and health and wellness, our reach is both broad and deep. Uniting us is a deep commitment to solving real-world problems affecting Central Illinois, the United States, and the globe. Here, we highlight a fraction of our world-class research in the area of agriculture and the environment, including retooling a global staple crop, harnessing technology for environmentally friendly practices and products, and more.
NEW PERENNIAL RICE SAVES TIME, MONEY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT Following decades of work by ACES scientists and partners across the globe, annual paddy rice is now available as a long-lived perennial. The advancement means farmers can plant just once and reap up to eight harvests without sacrificing yield, leaving behind the cost and drudgery involved with planting twice per year, the current standard. Already, the retooled crop has been deployed throughout southern China and Uganda and is changing the lives of more than 55,750 smallholder farmers. A recent ACES study evaluated the impact of the new crop, finding farmers put in 60% less labor and spent about half on seed, fertilizer, and other inputs. The high-yielding crop also generated 17 to 161% greater profits than annual rice, all while increasing soil quality and avoiding significant carbon emissions.
Perennial rice significantly reduces labor and costs for smallholder farmers around the world
ACES RESEARCHERS LEAD INNOVATIVE COVER CROPPING PROJECT
The iCOVER project will scale up robotic cover crop planting
aces-research@illinois.edu
Cover cropping benefits farmers and the environment by ensuring more carbon in the soil year-round and keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. ACES researchers received nearly $5M from USDA to address the main obstacles to adoption. The iCOVER project will utilize autonomous farming and sensing technologies to reduce the cost and labor burden of cover crop planting and to enable accurate, rapid, low-cost soil measurements. At sites in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa, the team plans to scale up robotic cover-crop planting from 1,000 to 20,000 acres over four years, bringing the cost to less than $10 per acre. Additionally, the team will partner with Tuskegee University, a Historically Black Land-Grant University, to enable climate-smart markets for minority, underserved farmers growing specialty crops and animal products.
aces.illinois.edu/research/areas/ag-env