UW-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

06/01/2026

Happy June Dairy Month! 🐄 To celebrate, why not check out a local dairy event? America’s Dairyland has compiled a list of dairy breakfasts and other events happening all over Wisconsin — and the first events are happening this weekend! https://www.wisconsindairy.org/june-dairy-month/Dairy-Breakfasts

05/29/2026

For many new international faculty, the Wisconsin Idea is a new concept. But for Rajdeep Khangura, the Wisconsin Idea felt less like an introduction and more like a homecoming. It started with a sandwich at Babcock Dairy Store, where he saw a plaque on the history of the Babcock Test. Growing up on a dairy farm in northern India, Rajdeep had been doing the same test since he was seven years old — he had no idea that the test was perfected in Madison, WI. Now, he does his farming at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station Primary, where he researches broad-spectrum disease resistance in cereal crops.

Learn more at https://international.wisc.edu/the-global-reach-of-the-wisconsin-idea-how-a-babcock-dairy-sandwich-revealed-a-lifelong-connection/.

UW-Madison Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences

05/28/2026

Every small family farm wonders, who's going to take over in the next generation? For CALS alum Laura Duesterbeck Johnson BS'03, her family farm wasn't any different. It wasn't until coming to CALS and meeting Ben Johnson BS'04, fellow CALS student and future husband, that she came up with a new way to continue her family's farm for future generations: a brewing company. Duesterbeck Brewing Company officially opened in fall 2019 in Elkhorn, WI and have now expanded to a 20-barrel brewing operation — and their kids help out to carry on the family farm legacy.

Learn more about the Duesterbeck Brewing Company at https://grow.cals.wisc.edu/departments/features/a-growers-vision-a-dentists-brew-and-a-farms-revival.

05/27/2026

Continuing the celebration of our 2026 CALS Award honorees, we would like to honor this year's recipients of individual awards! 👏 We would like to give a big congratulations to:
• Steven Deller, agricultural and applied economics – Pound Extension Award
• Claudio Gratton, Entomology – Robert G. F. and Hazel T. Spitze Land Grant Faculty Award for Excellence
• Russell Groves, Entomology – Donald R. Peterson Farm Technology Transfer Award
• Betül Kaçar, Bacteriology – Pound Research Award
• Claire Minor, Genetics – WALSAA Outstanding Advisor Award
• Guanming Shi, agricultural and applied economics – Excellence in International Activities Award
• Megan Sippel, UW-Madison Animal and Dairy Science – Arthur J. and Ellen A. Maurer Extra Mile Award
• Claudia Solís-Lemus, Plant Pathology – Robert R. Spitzer Teaching Excellence Award
• Jennifer Van Os, UW-Madison Animal and Dairy Science – Louise Hemstead Leadership Award

05/26/2026

Tara LaRowe, a teaching professor and registered dietitian in the UW-Madison Department of Nutritional Sciences, is bringing her expertise in evidence-based nutrition to the School of Medicine and Public Health’s curriculum teaching medical students. Doctors who understand a patient’s nutritional status are better prepared to provide care and improve patient outcomes.

Learn more about Tara's work at https://www.med.wisc.edu/news/nutrition-md-curriculum/.

05/21/2026

CALS would like to welcome Licheng Liu, new assistant professor in biological systems engineering. His work focuses on developing advanced modeling frameworks to improve our understanding, prediction, and management of complex environmental process. Learn more about Licheng at https://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/2026/04/03/new-faculty-profile-licheng-liu/.

05/20/2026

Continuing the celebration of our 2026 CALS Award honorees, we would like to honor this year's recipients of faculty fellowships, CALS Community Builder Awards, and University Staff Recognition Awards! 👏 We would like to give a big congratulations to:

CALS Community Builder Award
• Tom Browne, CALS Academic Affairs
• Christelle Guedot, Entomology
• Priya Mukherjee, Agricultural & Applied Economics

Fellowships
• Nan Enstad, Community and Environmental Sociology – Atwood Faculty Fellowship
• Natasha Rayne, Soil and Environmental Sciences – Kelling Faculty Fellowship

University Staff Recognition Award
• Karl Breneman, Agricultural Research Stations
• Lindsey Burckhardt, Wisconsin Blaine Dairy Research Center
• Amy Cottom, UW-Madison Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
• Jake Oertel, Marshfield Agricultural Research Station
• Pete Sutton, Marshfield Agricultural Research Station

05/19/2026

05/18/2026

For farmers, understanding the growing environment — air and soil temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind — is more important than ever. Wisconet, a statewide network of weather stations, is bringing this real-time data directly to farmers like David Bartling, CALS alum and co-owner of Manitowish Cranberry Co. in northern Wisconsin. “When you’re applying fertilizer or treating for pests, to be able to do that according to data coming from right down the road from your own beds, that benefit is awesome,” says David, referring to the station right next to his farm. "To my knowledge, all the growers around here use it."

Learn more about David and other farmers using Wisconet at https://grow.cals.wisc.edu/departments/features/high-tech-eyes-on-fields-and-skies.

05/15/2026

Positive-strand RNA viruses comprise many, often fearsome, viruses. But in order to infect a host, a virus must replicate their DNA, and the labs of plant pathology's Paul Ahlquist and University Of Wisconsin-Madison Department Of Biochemistry's Tim Grant have published the most detailed study of the viral RNA replication organelle to date. They discovered that the replication process is regulated by a small structure made up of just 17 amino acids — opening the door to future work on understanding and potentially controlling other viruses.

Learn more about their research at https://morgridge.org/story/in-just-17-amino-acids-a-master-regulator-of-viral-genome-replication/.