ITHACA, N.Y. - A new study from Cornell University researchers finds improved farm productivity has been the driving force in keeping greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in check.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists can now differentiate between human-derived and hydrological contributions of riverine nitrogen pollution in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The advancement sets the stage for more nuanced policy and management of nitrate and nitrite, the nutrients that degrade drinking water quality and cause oxygen-starved “dead zones” in the Gulf each year.

 A new action plan from the University of Maryland’s Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology offers a path forward for how Maryland’s farmers, agricultural leaders, and policymakers can strengthen the state’s agricultural resilience in the face of climate change.

University of Illinois Chicago researchers are working on a carbon-neutral way to make ammonia, whose main ingredients are found in air and water.

Environmental phenomena and their consequences can disrupt social structures and destabilize political systems. An interdisciplinary research team demonstrated this using the example of the late Tang dynasty in medieval China.