Happy National Insect Appreciation Day! 🐝🦋🐞
We’re celebrating the tiny creatures that have a huge impact on our world and the collections that help us understand them.
At @InsectPerc, housed within @PurdueInsects, more than one million preserved insect specimens help entomologists like @AgeOfArthropods uncover stories of biodiversity, advancing research, teaching and discovery for future generations.
Learn more about Smith Hall’s “time machine” today: https://t.co/69Oan29SDM
#PurdueAg
.@LifeAtPurdue Board of Trustees ratified two named chair positions: Channing Arndt as the Robert & Karen Thompson Chair in International Agricultural Economics and Huseyin Gulen as the Bob & Sharon Schafer Chair in Finance. Congrats to Channing & Huseyin!
https://t.co/UuZQ500MfI
For decades, economic growth and environmental conservation have been viewed as competing factors, but now, a paper in the @PNASNews challenges this notion.
An interdisciplinary team of research - led by @UMNews and with @PurdueAgEcon's Erwin Corong - found that faster economic development in lower-income countries could reduce pressure to convert natural ecosystems into farmland by slowing population growth and improving crop yields and agricultural efficiency.
https://t.co/97aRhIF0BK
This week we completed our first on-farm sampling campaign of the season, collecting data from three sites in southern Indiana.
These field visits mark the beginning of an exciting project focused on exploring digital Ag tools to support in-season N management in corn.
Researchers at @LifeAtPurdue are helping advance the future of sustainable fuels with soybeans!
Led by @AbeMosier, @INSoybean Soybean Utilization Endowed Chair and head of @PurdueABE, alongside senior bioprocess engineering research scientist Junli Liu and graduate students Elena Robles Molina, the team developed a soybean-based biokerosene that can be blended into cold-weather biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This innovation, funded by ISA, could also expand markets for locally grown soybeans, as the biokerosene is produced domestically using existing production technology.
#PurdueAg
https://t.co/VRdrsg5rwS
Did you know low-moisture foods like dried fruits and flour can house harmful bacteria like Salmonella?
@LifeAtPurdue's Han Chen, postdoctoral scholar in the lab of @PurdueFoodSci's Betty Feng, is working with @almonds to determine how growers, processors and industry leaders can work together to boost food safety practices across the industry.
In a review published in the journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Safety, Chen and her co-authors examine how California’s almond industry became the “gold standard” for food safety management, offering insight for other low-moisture food sectors.
#PurdueAg
https://t.co/wTG2JF215p
Don Orr saw an opportunity in the Whittington student experience match and turned it into impact for @PurdueANSC students.
The Donald and Pamela Orr Animal Sciences Student Endowment — strengthened through Ro and Short Whittington’s matching support — expands hands-on learning, industry connections and career readiness for @LifeAtPurdue students.
Because of leaders like the Orr and Whittington families, students don’t just study agriculture. They live it, explore it and lead it.
@PurdueforLife@PurdueAgAlumni #PurdueAg
https://t.co/kZePbXXAqz
Graduate Ag Research Spotlight! 🔬🧬
Meet Natalie Allen, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in @PurdueFNR.
Inspired by a childhood spent exploring the outdoors in northern Florida, Natalie is studying several animal species using genome sequencing in @LifeAtPurdue professor @AndrewDeWoody's lab to answer questions with conservation implications.
#PurdueAg @AgResearchPU
Learn more: https://t.co/AQBoZOOmLq
Can fish waste become renewable biofuels? 🐟♻️
Ji-Qin Ni, professor of @PurdueABE and his @LifeAtPurdue colleagues are studying the complex variables of anaerobic digestion — a natural microbial process that converts aquaculture sludge into renewable biofuel.
Their recent studies explore how common Midwest materials — corn residue and dairy manure — can create the optimal mixing ratio for anaerobic codigestion of aquaculture sludge, supporting bioenergy production and supplying nutrients for aquaculture and aquaponics operations.
https://t.co/YaDV3IpY81
The National AgrAbility Project, housed at @LifeatPurdue's Breaking New Ground Resource Center in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, has been included in @Forbes' Accessibility 200 list.
As AgrAbility celebrates 35 years, this second consecutive Forbes' recognition reflects decades of dedication from AgrAbility staff members and the resilience of the farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers with disabilities they work with.
https://t.co/CYtKe9GrD2
Happy National Learn About Composting Day! 🌱♻️
Composting is one small step that can make a big impact, reducing food waste, enriching soil and supporting healthier ecosystems.
Looking to get started? Karen Mitchell, consumer horticulture @PurdueExtension specialist in @PurdueHortLA, shares some beginner-friendly, myth-busting advice and easy ways to compost in a variety of living situations.
Learn how to compost today!
https://t.co/FIydxChsHu
A new study in PLOS One by @LifeAtPurdue's Barry Pittendrigh and Julia Bello-Bravo, alongside international collaborators, introduces a framework for measuring the return of investment of digital agricultural education initiatives worldwide.
The research highlights @SAWBOsm's free multilingual instructional animations, expanding access to agricultural knowledge in remote communities. Now available through the new SAWBO app, videos reach viewers speaking languages ranging from Arabic and Swahili to those used by fewer than 10,000 people globally.
#PurdueAg
https://t.co/dd8FxdZPyU
Berry breakthroughs are happening across Indiana thanks to @PurdueExtension!
Specialists like @VeggieGuan are helping farmers grow flavorful, high-quality strawberries through research in cultivar selection, production systems, pest management and more.
From field days to on-farm collaboration, Purdue Extension continues to support farmers as they cultivate sweet success one berry at a time.
https://t.co/po2tL0YRXb
#PurdueAg
Congratulations, Fern Rice! The @PurdueInsects and @historyatpurdue@purduehonors student was named a 2026 Beinecke Scholar, a prestigious award encouraging exceptional third year students to pursue graduate school in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
@PurdueNISO@PurdueLibArts
How much nitrogen fertilizer do corn fields need to ensure optimal yields? The answer is uncertain. A new Purdue University-led study published in @NatureComms finds that accounting for this uncertainty can improve crop production, increase profits and lower environmental costs.
With the U.S. producing nearly one-third of the world’s corn, @ICiampitti, @PurdueAgronomy professor, says that this isn’t just a farmer issue – it affects everyone.
https://t.co/mNUAydB03R
#PurdueAg