The U.S. has traditionally been an agricultural powerhouse with a healthy trade surplus. But global dynamics are changing due to a confluence of political and economic factors. U.S. agricultural imports now exceed exports, and the trade deficit is projected to worsen in the coming years. In a new study, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Texas Tech University discuss recent developments affecting the U.S. trade in row crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton.

Christopher Sneed, an associate professor and consumer economics specialist in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) at the University of Tennessee, has received the 2025 Excellence in Extension Award for an individual.

The prestigious national award was presented at the recent Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Conference by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Cooperative Extension and the APLU. The award recognizes one Cooperative Extension professional who has demonstrated outstanding scientific programming, visionary leadership and positive community impact. 

Entrepreneurship studies often focus on firm growth-related topics. The factors affecting the high-growth (HG) in high-growth firms (HGFs) are not well established. While some studies suggest that proactive strategizing precedes the HG period, others consider that the near-random structure of the firm’s growth is better to delay growth-related investments. This study focuses on the “timing” of setting up new hierarchical layers and the consequences if it happens before or after the growth event.