![](https://agriculture.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/COA-homepage-commodities-web-left.png)
![](https://agriculture.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/COA-homepage-commodities-web-right.png)
Majors & Minors
Visit Ag Hill
Apply Now
This is the work that makes the world work.
As agricultural scientists, our focus is on the food, fuel, water and natural resources that keep our world moving. We are working to make food safer, the environment cleaner and communities healthier. We are working to stamp out poverty while making farms more efficient and sustainable. As one of the founding colleges of Auburn University, we tackle these goals through innovative research, academic rigor and outreach programs spanning around the world.
Latest News
![Maity awarded $300,000 in support of plant research and agricultural production systems](https://agriculture.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Aniruddha-Maity-1080x675.png)
Maity awarded $300,000 in support of plant research and agricultural production systems
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) recently awarded Aniruddha Maity a $300,000 grant to….
![Auburn faculty redefining possibilities for use of biochar products in farming](https://agriculture.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240620-biochar-1080x675.jpg)
Auburn faculty redefining possibilities for use of biochar products in farming
For researchers studying environmentally friendly farming practices, biochar is a game-changer.
Biochar, a charcoal-like substance created by heating plant waste, is a groundbreaking innovation in the field of sustainable farming. It is beneficial for improving soil quality, recycling organic plant material and capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural industry.
Auburn University’s Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts (CBB) is on the cutting edge of rapidly advancing research surrounding biochar and its uses. Sushil Adhikari, the center’s director, is excited about the direction of biochar research at Auburn.
“We are exploring the possibilities of biochar that can be produced from locally available biomass,” Adhikari said. “We are looking at the potential for capturing nutrients and reusing them, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture practices to make farming more sustainable, capturing carbon dioxide and sequestering in the form of stable carbon and potentially generating revenue for farmers to store carbon for large carbon dioxide emitters.”
At the CBB, faculty members from several disciplines, including those in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and Auburn’s College of Agriculture, are conducting research surrounding the production and use of biochar. They are currently working on several different projects that explore how this naturally derived substance can make farming more sustainable.
Title: “Developing effective adaptation strategies to enhance the resilience of farmers under changing climate”
Principal investigator: Jasmeet Lamba of Biosystems Engineering
Also involved: Adhikari, William Batchelor and Hossein Jahromi of Biosystems Engineering; Charles Chen of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences; Neha Potnis of Entomology and Plant Pathology; and Wendiam Sawadgo from the Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology. The CBB helped to assemble the team and contribute technical information to the research.
These researchers received a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study how farmers can use biochar to minimize the effects of drought while at the same time reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. They are also studying which plant genes are associated with a higher crop yield when treated with biochar and assessing farmers’ attitudes toward using this new product.
Title: “Tripartite: Dual-Function Engineered Biochar for Excess Soil Phosphorus Sorption with Subsequent Slow Release for Cost-Effective and Sustainable Crop Production”
Principal Investigator: Adhikari
Also involved: Sawadgo, Jahromi, colleagues in Ireland and Northern Ireland and faculty from the University of Delaware and New Mexico State University.
Adhikari and his colleagues are part of a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to study how to capture excess phosphorus in the soil and slowly release it to benefit plant growth. In areas near chicken farms, including those in Alabama, there are often large buildups of phosphorus from synthetic fertilizers. When phosphorus runoff enters streams and creeks, it can deplete the oxygen supply, creating “dead zones” that harm marine and plant life and disrupt the aquatic ecosystem. The team’s goals are to learn how to keep those carbon emissions out of waterways and to divert that carbon to plants at a rate that will help them grow.
![The Market at Ag Heritage Park to return to campus May 23](https://agriculture.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/COA_2210-1080x675.jpg)
The Market at Ag Heritage Park to return to campus May 23
Auburn University’s only farmers’ market returns to campus on Thursday, May 23…
Longtime professor becomes American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow
By Amy Weaver Longtime Auburn University Professor Beth Guertal joined the ranks of Thomas Edison, W.E.B. Dubois and Margaret Mead with her election as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Guertal is one of 502 scientists,...
Chera Howard places second in Tiger Cage Pitch Competition
College of Agriculture student Chera Howard placed second in a competition that started with 21 student-led business startups competing for $80,000 in seed funding. The 2024 Tiger Cage Business Pitch Competition concluded on March 29 when the six teams who advanced to...
Entomologists find evidence of current mating behavior in extinct termites
Mizumoto recreates fossilization process to test tandem run hypothesis An assistant professor in the Auburn University Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology recently found evidence that termites living millions of years ago mated the same way termites do...
Biosystems engineering alumna highlighted in PepsiCo STEM campaign
By Jeremy Henderson jdh0123@auburn.edu, 3343190721 When it came to selecting a success story celebrating the growing role of women in their company's leadership — and in STEM fields in general — Frito-Lay chose wisely. The snack giant recently highlighted 2013...
Read more in the Newsroom.