October 22, 2025
Solving real-world problems with innovative and interdisciplinary plant research is exactly what the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences aims to achieve by introducing a new seminar series: "Plants for the People," beginning this Friday, Oct. 24.
October 13, 2025
In September, turfgrass students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to volunteer at the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur Golf Championship.
September 23, 2025
In a development that could help protect one of the world's most beloved agricultural commodities, a research team at Penn State has successfully created disease-resistant cacao plants using gene-editing technology. According to the researchers, the innovation promises to help resolve a significant problem for the global chocolate industry, worth over $135 billion annually, which faces threat from the phytophthora species, a fungal-like pathogen that gives rise to the destructive black pod disease that can cause yield losses of up to 30% worldwide.
September 19, 2025
Cruciferous vegetables like radish, broccoli and kale offer significant health benefits, especially when they are consumed as microgreens, or as young seedlings harvested early. But microgreens are highly perishable and lose nutritional value quickly. In an effort to boost the impact and accessibility of microgreens, a team of researchers at Penn State found that hot air drying — a cheap and relatively easy preservation technique — largely allows the plants to retain key nutrients and compounds that benefit health.
August 26, 2025
Microgreens, which are young, edible plants that only take one to three weeks to harvest, are more than garnish at trendy restaurants — they could be the answer to global hunger, according to plant scientists at Penn State. Two new studies have revealed that microgreens, already densely packed with nutrients, can be made even more nutritious with a couple of minor growing adjustments.
August 18, 2025
Over the centuries, root traits of corn — now the most widely planted crop in the U.S., and second globally (by acreage) — evolved in response to both changing environmental conditions and human agricultural practices. Because the role of roots in crop domestication in response to shifting circumstances remains unclear — and because it may be relevant to the present when a warming climate is stressing corn and other crops — a team of researchers led by Penn State plant scientists conducted a study to understand how root traits evolved during corn domestication.
August 13, 2025
A team of Penn State graduate students recently placed first in the Northeast Weed Science Society’s annual “Weed Contest,” co-hosted this year by Rutgers University and Syngenta at the New Jersey Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
July 28, 2025
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has launched the Land Grant Research Impact Fellows program. This new initiative recognizes and supports faculty whose research addresses pressing challenges in Pennsylvania and beyond.
July 21, 2025
A team led by researchers at Penn State have modeled precisely how various nuclear winter scenarios could impact global production of corn — the most widely planted grain crop in the world. They also recommended preparing “agricultural resilience kits” with seeds for faster-growing varieties better adapted to colder temperatures that could potentially help offset the impact of nuclear winter, as well as natural disasters like volcanic eruptions.
July 15, 2025
Plant sciences graduate Christopher Little has been selected as the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award for the 2024–25 academic year in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
July 8, 2025
Golf course managers have much more insight into which fungicides to use to suppress turfgrass diseases, such as the common and costly dollar spot disease, without damaging the grass on their fairways, thanks to a new study by researchers at Penn State.
July 2, 2025
In early June, Bogotá, Colombia, became the center of global páramo research as faculty and students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences joined forces with international partners to host the landmark Páramos 2025 Symposium.
June 25, 2025
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded funding to six faculty members across three teams to support the development of innovative curricula through the college's Harbaugh Faculty Scholars program.
June 23, 2025
Herbicide-resistant weeds result in significant economic losses for U.S. soybean growers, according to the United Soybean Board, which has awarded $500,000 to a multistate research project to develop new diagnostic tools for herbicide-resistant weeds in soybean production. The team includes scientists from Penn State.
May 23, 2025
Two students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences’ turfgrass science program recently were selected for highly competitive United States Golf Association Green Section internships.
May 23, 2025
Penn State undergraduates Charlie Colvin and Megan von Abo were named 2025 Astronaut Scholars, earning competitive national scholarships facilitated by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The scholarships provide up to $15,000 toward education for undergraduate students pursuing careers in engineering, math, or natural or applied sciences research.
April 29, 2025
Graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences were recognized for their accomplishments during the 2025 Graduate Student Award Celebration, hosted by the Office for Research and Graduate Education and held recently on the University Park campus.
April 25, 2025
A team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences is addressing the growing interest among tree fruit growers in Pennsylvania and the Northeast in adopting drone-based spraying systems for high-density apple and peach orchards. The Northeast Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture recently awarded the team two grants to support the work.
April 15, 2025
The Penn State chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the agricultural honor society, recognized faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students from the College of Agricultural Sciences during its annual meeting April 3.
April 4, 2025
Forty-two graduate students received Penn State's annual recognition awards that celebrate students' impact in research, scholarship, teaching, outreach, mentoring and more.
April 1, 2025
On the latest episode of “Growing Impact,” a team of Penn State researchers discusses how their seed grant project aims to address nitrous oxide emissions from the agricultural sector.
March 24, 2025
A group of 15 Penn State graduate students and postdoctoral scholars have been selected to participate in the Bayer Crop Science 2025 University Mentoring Program, a global initiative that pairs students with industry professionals for career guidance and professional development.
March 24, 2025
A group of 15 Penn State graduate students and postdoctoral scholars have been selected to participate in the Bayer Crop Science 2025 University Mentoring Program, a global initiative that pairs students with industry professionals for career guidance and professional development.
February 27, 2025
Soilless growing systems inside greenhouses, known as controlled environment agriculture, promise to advance the year-round production of high-quality specialty crops, according to an interdisciplinary research team at Penn State. But to be competitive and sustainable, this advanced farming method will require the development and implementation of precision agriculture techniques. To meet that demand, the team developed an automated crop-monitoring system capable of providing continuous and frequent data about plant growth and needs, allowing for informed crop management.
February 18, 2025
Students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences are starting the year out with wins at two turfgrass industry national competitions.
February 17, 2025
Students in the two-year Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences achieved a historic milestone this academic year, receiving more than $100,000 in scholarships — the highest awarded in the program’s history.
February 7, 2025
A need for industry knowledge led Jeffrey Dorn to enroll in the Penn State Turfgrass Science program, offered online through Penn State World Campus, which fit into his new career and family life.
December 10, 2024
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences celebrated another year of outstanding success and accomplishments in research during the 2024 Research Awards Ceremony, held Nov. 19 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.
December 2, 2024
A delegation of Penn State faculty and graduate students who attended the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, known as COP16, in Cali, Colombia, share about the event and their experiences.
November 27, 2024
In conjunction with National Teach Ag Day, undergraduate students in agricultural and extension education in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recently put their budding teaching skills to work during a pilot career immersion event for high school students.
