Plants, their ecosystems, the soils in which they grow, and their associated microbes are foundational to our health and the health of our planet. In the face of a changing climate and growing pressure on natural and agricultural ecosystems, our research, teaching and outreach address these critical grand challenges.

Learn more about our four grand challenges:

solar panel corn field farm tour

Sustainable crop production and food security

Safeguarding future food security for all with sustainably managed nutritious crops in diverse production systems, under a changing climate, with minimal loss to weeds and pathogens.

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Plants and ecosystem health

Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation to secure ecosystem and human health and foster climate justice in diverse environments.

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Biodiversity, evolution, and molecular mechanisms

Understanding plant processes from cells to ecosystems and harnessing fundamental knowledge of plants, their associated microbes, and their relationships with the environment.

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Urban plants and ecosystem services

Enhancing food access and ecosystem services for equitable human and ecosystem health in high population areas.

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tissue culture plants
measuring chlorophyll
field day

School of Integrative Plant Science News

Learn how our research in plant and soil sciences is advancing our knowledge and securing food security and environmental sustainability. Stories from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences newsroom.

Two researchers wearing safety goggles look at something on a computer

News

Ancient dirty dishes reveal decades of questionable findings

An interdisciplinary team of researchers determined that organic residues of plant oils are poorly preserved in calcareous soils from the Mediterranean, leading decades of archaeologists to likely misidentify olive oil in ceramic artifacts.

  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil
Three bowls of cherry tomatoes in red, green and orange colors

News

Three varieties join the “Galaxy Suite” of grape tomatoes, a snack-sized Cornell-bred medley.

  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
Unicorn kale

News

The "it" vegetable just got a glow-up, fulfilling consumers' desires for quirky and aesthetically pleasing foods.

  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture

Land Acknowledgment

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ leadership. Learn more from the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program website.