Counting Down N.C. PSI's Top Five Hits of 2024

Dec 16, 2024

Counting Down N.C. PSI’s Top Five Hits of 2024

2024 marked Adrian Percy’s third full year as executive director of the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative, and with the new year approaching, he shared a list of what he sees…

Two people in a lab with electronic devices

Dec 3, 2024

Researchers Pit Lasers Against Sweetpotato Pest

With vinegar flies increasingly impacting sweetpotato storage, N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative researchers are exploring a novel management strategy with lasers to combat the pests.

Nov 30, 2024

Robots + Drones + AI = Hardier Tomatoes?

Each year, plant diseases take a bite out of agricultural yields and profits, causing estimated global agricultural losses of $30 billion to $50 billion. At NC State University, experts in optical…

A woman and a man standing outside in front of the Plant Sciences Building

Nov 7, 2024

‘A Meaningful Impact’

Amid rising interest in the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence, promising undergraduate and graduate students at NC State University are gaining experience in applying AI and data analytics in agriculture.…

Much-magnified image of the root-know nematode

Nov 4, 2024

Toward Faster Nematode Test Results

UPDATED: Feb. 24, 2026 Plant-parasitic nematodes that feed on crops cause an estimated $80 billion to $157 billion in damage around the world each year. Two North Carolina State University faculty…

Three people making a presentation in front of a poster that says "Hackathon"

Oct 24, 2024

Creating Cutting-Edge Ag Tech

Nearly 50 NC State University undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars spent a fall weekend competing in the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s fourth annual Hackathon, taking on real-world agricultural technology…

Oct 21, 2024

Samulski Supports ‘Next Wave’ Genome Editing Technology at NC State

Jude Samulski has contributed $3 million to advance plant sciences research and help establish the Endowed Chair for the Genome Editing Center for Sustainable Agriculture at NC State University.

Researchers with poplar trees in a greenhouse.

Oct 18, 2024

Finding Could Help Turn Trees Into Affordable, Greener Industrial Chemicals

Specific molecular property of lignin in trees determines difficulty of using microbial fermentation to turn trees and other plants into industrial chemicals.

Oct 17, 2024

Boundary-Crossing Research Paves Way for Fungal Crop Solutions

Think of fungi in agriculture, and you might think first of the crop diseases they cause. But since ancient times, farmers have been using the interactions among fungi and crops…

a woman and a man stand in a field of green crops

Sep 25, 2024

New NC State Web Tool Delivers Precise Soybean Planting Recommendations

BeanPACK, a new soybean growers decision support tool designed to revolutionize on-farm recommendations, was released Oct. 1, in time to inform statewide planting decisions for the 2025 growing season. The…

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