Due to a decline in state support, U-Illinois plans to reduce off-campus research on crops, and may shut down field research at four locations around the state, said the Associated Press. Nine jobs would be lost as part of the retrenchment. The associate dean for research at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences said the agricultural school expected a drop of $4 million in state funding this year, a 7.5-percent reduction. Crop research would continue on the campus in Champaign, in west-central Illinois, and at farms in northwestern and east-central Illinois.