Goals

1. Develop and deliver educational programs for undergraduate and graduate students that allow them to become well-educated, highly skilled, and creative individuals with the potential to be national and international leaders.
2. Advance and document the frontiers of plant sciences and applicable disciplines to improve the quality and quantity of plants and their products, including food, feed, fuel, and fiber production.
3. Develop and enhance plant production systems that integrate pest and other management practices while protecting the environment.
4. Demonstrate and communicate the results of research, provide educational programs to Illinois citizens, and extend the application of scientifically sound principles to agriculture.
5. Develop programs to understand the impact of agricultural practices on the environment and the impact of the environment on agriculture.

Objectives

To achieve this mission, the Department has established the following objectives:

1. Discover, formulate and demonstrate new principles of crop improvement and soil-crop management so that Illinois agriculture is socially viable, profitable for the farmer, and competitive on world markets. In other words:
   Improve field crops and soil-crop management
2. Discover, formulate, and demonstrate new principles for prevention and management of diseases, insects, and weeds affecting field, specialty food, and amenity crops. In other words:
   Develop disease, insect, and weed management strategies for crops
3. Evaluate and preserve for future generations genetic marker stocks of corn and soybean and an agriculturally useful and genetically diverse collection of germplasm of major Illinois field crops. In other words:
   Evaluate and preserve crop germplasm
4. Identify agriculturally useful genes in wild or little-used plant species and develop techniques to use those genes to enhance the nutritional quality, pest-resistance, stress tolerance, and commercial potential of Illinois field, specialty food, and amenity crops. In other words:
   Discover useful genes from new or unique sources to improve crops
5. Conduct fundamental research to discover new knowledge and advance the frontiers of the crop and pest management sciences. In other words:
   Advance frontiers of crop and pest management sciences
6. Develop and deliver research results in the environmental sciences to improve agricultural profitability while decreasing adverse impacts on the environment, both local and global. In other words:
   Protect the environment

Programs

To accomplish these objectives, the members of the Department of Crop Sciences:

1. Initiate, conduct, and report research on scientifically important and socially relevant problems.
2. Conceive, advocate, and implement programs to educate agricultural leaders for the 21^st Century and enhance the knowledge and skills of today's leaders.
3. Demonstrate and communicate the results of research and educational programs to Illinois citizens, and extend application of scientifically sound principles to new needs of agricultural enterprises.