by Bridgette Fox, Capitol News Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s international soybean lab will be forced to close in April following President Donald Trump’s end to the federal foreign aid program USAID.
Capitol News Illinois reports the Soybean Innovation Lab is home to over 30 employees who were all told in January they will be laid off.
The lab was working closely with African countries to develop the foundation of their own soybean markets.
The Soybean Innovation Lab was researching Red Leaf Blotch, a fungal plant disease that lab director Pete Goldsmith said would devastate American soybean crops if it ever made its way into the country.
