Soil and Crop Sciences News

CALS News, Spotlights, Field Notes and FutureCasts of interest to the Soil and Crop Sciences Section community in the School of Integrative Plant Science.

The latest news ...

Close up of wheat in a field

News

How much would you pay for this bread?

Growing climate-smart crops is half the battle. Consumers need to understand sustainability claims and, more importantly, be willing to pay a premium for them.

  • Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
Close up of dissolved organic matter sourced from decomposition incubations in preparation for measurement with high-resolution mass spectrometry.

News

Soil molecular diversity spikes as microbes decompose plants

As soil microbes break down plant residues, they produce a diverse set of molecules, but this diversity starts to fall after the initial phase of decomposition (roughly 32 days). Understanding how soils retain or emit carbon dioxide during this...

  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
  • Soil
Solar panels

News

$5M grant will fund study of how solar panels can boost crops

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has awarded the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences $5 million to build solar arrays at university farms in Ithaca and the Hudson Valley.

  • Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
  • Hudson Valley Lab
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
Birds eye view of 10, yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota.

News

Peatlands’ ‘huge reservoir’ of carbon at risk of release

In a warming climate, extreme drought could trigger a dramatic release of carbon from peatlands, erasing up to 250 years of carbon stores in a matter of months.

  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
  • Climate Change
aerial photo of power to x plant

News

Cornell Atkinson-EDF research aids people and planet

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and long-time collaborator Environmental Defense Fund announce their 2025 awardees for joint research and seek new proposals for 2026 initiatives.

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • School of Integrative Plant Science

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.