RegenPGC Airs Webinar Series Jan-Feb 2025

Week 2 of our January- February 2025 Webinar Series, “UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF PERENNIAL GROUNDCOVERS IN CORN AND CORN/SOYBEAN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS,” will air live on January 21 at noon (Central Time).

Learn more about the entire 5-week series at https://www.regenpgc.org/resources/webinars/

Register now. If you missed Week 1, you can catch up on our YouTube site at https://www.youtube.com/@RegenPGC

Week 2. Selecting Perennial Groundcovers for Corn & Soybean Production Systems and Their Ideal Characteristics

Amina Moro (Iowa State University)

  • Crop Zone Requirements

Dr. Sara Lira & Brent Wilson (Corteva Agrisciences)

  • Techniques for maintaining a crop growth zone in corn and soybean production systems

Dr. Erin Haramoto & Kiera Searcy (University of Kentucky)

  • Chemical weed control options for perennial groundcover systems. Experiences & Options

Research is meant to be shared across the ages

Patrick Galland and Rickiel Franklin in James Wenman's 4th Grade class

2024 RegenPGC Research Education for Teachers participant James Wenman (Holy Trinity School, Waverly, Iowa) invited RegenPGC Collaborator Patrick Galland and Graduate Student Rickiel Franklin to his 4th grade class. We are unsure who learned the most, but Patrick had this to say about this unique experience.

“The students really seemed to have a blast, Rickiel and I had fun, too. We just went over our background (educational and personal) and went over the basics of how experiments progress through and what we hope to gain from them.

We then spent a good chunk of time reviewing Rickiel’s experiment (the one James worked on the most) and related the themes to real-world examples. James came up with my favorite; he compared the competition of PGC/corn over nutrients, water, and light to the kids with their siblings around the dinner table fighting over food. It got a good laugh out of everyone and was a very apt analogy. The biggest struggle for me was how to appropriately discuss topics in a way that was engaging and digestible to 4th graders, but James did an excellent job facilitating that. The kids were a pleasure, and I’m happy to help however I can.”

RegenPGC CoPd Amani Elobeid receives the best kind of honor –recognition by her peers as a difference maker.

Dr. Amani Elobeid, a RegenPGC Socioeconomic Policy Impacts Objective member, is a teaching professor of economics, Deiter Endowed Chair for Sustaining Excellence in Agricultural Business, and a faculty member in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). And now she is one of 12 women whose leadership has made a difference at Iowa State University. And now she will be honored on the 2025 Women Impacting ISU calendar.

Each year, a committee of students, faculty, and staff – including past calendar honorees – evaluates the nomination packets and selects the final honorees. The committee chooses the 12 honorees based on their impact on service, teaching, research, administration, scholarship, and campus activities, depending on each nominee’s role on campus.

The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics sponsors the calendar with funding provided by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost.

Math class? RegenPGC trained teacher Amy Jurasek promises fun

Amy Jurasek is a math teacher at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, who participated in our 2024 Research Experience for Teachers program.

As a teacher, Amy is inspired to develop lessons integrating environmental themes into mathematical problem-solving activities. She wants her students to understand the relevance of algebra and geometry to solving real-world problems.

As part of Amy’s experience in the 2024 Research Experience for Teachers program*, we asked Amy to produce a reflective video describing her experience as a teacher intern. We think that you will agree that what she has produced is utterly charming. Any adolescent would have a fantastic experience in Amy’s classroom!

You can learn more about Amy’s research project “Perennial Groundcover for Corn Systems – Is There an Ideal Distance?” at https://www.regenpgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Amy-Jurasek-poster-2024.pdf.

*Apply now to be a RegenPGC Research Experience Teacher!  We are starting to recruit for our Summer 2025 Research Experience for Teachers program. Check out the program at https://www.regenpgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/RET-Recruitment-Card.pdf.

St Cyr honored at Tuskegee University presentation event

Malcolm Yusuf St Cyr receives award

RegenPGC Graduate Education Community member Malcolm Yusuf St Cyr was recently recognized at the 82nd Professional Agricultural Workers Conference held at Tuskegee University for his presentation, Using Perennial Ground Covers in Midwest Agriculture to Sustain High Crop Productivity and Reduce Environment Impact.

Malcolm’s presentation was awarded second place at the Gamma Sigma Delta Agriculture Honors Society Graduate Competitive Oral Presentations event.

Malcolm is a graduate student in soil science at Iowa State University and a member of the RegenPGC Soil Health & Nutrient Management Objective. His current research focuses on nitrous oxide emissions and soil health within perennial grain cropping systems.

Malcolm holds a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and global resource systems. Growing up and attending high school in Senegal, West Africa, Malcolm developed a passion for agriculture in middle school, aspiring to help Senegal achieve food self-sufficiency and become a leading agricultural exporter.

You can learn more about the RegenPGC Graduate Education Community here.

  • St Cyr, Malcolm. (2024, November). Using Perennial Ground Covers in Midwest Agriculture to Sustain High Crop Productivity and Reduce Environment Impact [Gamma Sigma Delta Agriculture Honors Society Graduate Competitive Oral Presentations]. 82nd Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, Tuskegee, Alabama, United States.
  • Malcolm Yusuf St Cyr and Dr. Olga Bolden-Tiller, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Environmental & Nutritional Science, Tuskegee University

Webinar Series Unlocks Potential of Perennial Groundcovers in Corn and Corn/Soybean Production Systems

PGC in corn

A five-week lunch-and-learn webinar series starting in January 2025 will explore the innovative use of perennial groundcovers in corn and corn/soybean production systems as a cover crop. This series, sponsored by Iowa State University and RegenPCG, will be held on consecutive Tuesdays (Jan. 14, 21, 28 and Feb. 4 and 11, 2025) from 12-1 p.m. CST.

Register for the webinar series and stay tuned for the video series release.

This webinar series will focus on providing information on what perennial groundcover agriculture is, the potential benefits it offers, insight into how to effectively manage these systems, and work that is being undertaken to make them more robust for widespread adoption and implementation. The presentations are tailored for farmers, crop advisors, technical service providers, government agencies (NRCS/DNR) and other agricultural scientists eager to understand the possibilities and challenges of integrating perennial groundcovers into their row crop agriculture.

Jan. 14, 2025 – Perennial Ground Cover Integration into Corn and Soybean Production: System Basics and Potential Benefits; all speakers are from Iowa State University.
• Raj Raman – A visionary overview of the potential and scalability of perennial groundcovers in corn and soybean production systems
• Ken Moore and Roger Hintz – An operational guide to implementing a perennial groundcover in corn and soybean production systems
• Philip Rockson – A comparative analysis of time and labor demands across conventional, cereal rye, and perennial ground cover in corn and soybean production systems
• Cyndi Bartel – Comparisons of costs for conventional, cover cropping, and perennial groundcover in corn and soybean production systems
Jan. 21, 2025 – Perennial Ground Cover Suppression and Weed Management within Corn and Soybean Production Systems
• Amina Moro, Iowa State University – Crop Zone Requirements
• Sara Lira and Brent Wilson, Corteva Agriscience – Techniques for maintaining a crop growth zone in corn and soybean production systems
• Erin Haramoto, University of Kentucky – Chemical weed control options for perennial groundcover systems. Experiences and options
 Jan. 28, 2025 – Selecting Perennial Groundcovers for Corn and Soybean Production Systems and Their Ideal Characteristics
• Shuiz-hang Fei, Iowa State University – Choices for perennial groundcover in corn and soybean production systems
• Patrick Galland, Iowa State University – Research of unsuppressed production systems with perennial ground cover in corn production
• Brandon Schlautman, The Land Institute, and Philip Rockson, Iowa State University – Experiences from partnering farms using perennial ground cover in corn and soy production systems

Feb. 4, 2025 – Corn Hybrid Performance within Perennial Groundcover Systems
• Raj Raman, Iowa State University – Types of perennial groundcover production systems and how this influences brittleness
• Thomas Lubberstedt and Memis Bilgici, Iowa State University – Should we breed corn for use in perennial groundcover production systems?
• Sara Lira, Corteva Agriscience – Evaluating hybrid performance in well suppressed perennial groundcover systems

Feb. 11, 2025 – Quantifying and Valorizing Ecosystem Service Benefits for Perennial Groundcover in Corn and Soybean Production; all speakers are from Iowa State University
• Marshall McDaniel– Soil moisture results and water competition for nitrogen in perennial groundcover systems
• Oluwatuyi Olowoyeye – Research on grass cover and erosion control
• Philip Rockson – Findings on nitrogen leaching reduction
• Cyndi Bartel – Federal farm bill programs and valorizing ecosystem services
For more information about the series, please contact Daniel Andersen at dsa@iastate.edu or 515-294-4210. For registration inquiries, please contact Melissa McEnany at mmcenany@iastate.edu or 515-294-9075.

RegenPGC grad student honored at 2024 World Food Prize

World Food Prize Graduate Student Poster Competition awardees - RegenPGC Pratyusha Cheguri

RegenPGC Graduate Education Community member Prathyusha Cheguri (4th from left) earned a significant award from the World Food Prize’s “Norman Borlaug Lecture Poster Competition for Graduate and Undergraduate Students.” Prthyusha’s presentation focused on her research “on one of the ideal candidates (Poa bulbosa) to use as the ground cover of the Perennial Ground Cover based cropping systems.” Prathyusha’s achievement speaks well of her efforts as a graduate student at Iowa State University and the mentoring she has received from RegenPGC CoPd, Shui-zhang Fei.

Three graduate students were honored in the Borlaug Competition on Oct. 28 as part of the 2024 World Food Prize. Entrants submitted research posters on global issues in food, climate, technology, and more.
Graduate Students Awards
1st place – Esther Y. Akoto, industrial and agricultural technology
2nd place – Brady Clausen, sustainable agriculture
3rd place – Prathyusha Cheguri, genetics and genomics

You can learn more about Prthyusha and her colleagues in our RegenPGC Graduate Education Community at https://www.regenpgc.org/theme-3-education/graduate-education-copy/

(Photo: World Food Prize)

Research? Just never stop learning.

“Withut deviation progress is not possible.” This is probably the first time a USDA-NIFA report has inspiration in a quote attributed to Frank Zappa!

The quote is interesting, but we don’t totally agree with it in the context of our latest quarterly report (May 1 – July 31, 2024). We have never stopped learning about perennial groundcover since we started this project in 2021. Each research result teaches us something new, and we reassess what we previously believed in light of new information. At the same time, we never deviate from our goal of developing and increasing the reliability of perennial ground cover systems.

We measure our progress on our ability to make continuous course corrections. With that mindset, we think we are well on our way to demonstrating that perennial groundcover can be a useful approach to providing a range of farm operations with cover crops that require low labor inputs, provide significant ecosystem benefits, increase row crop resiliency, and have similar economic profiles as conventional row crop practices.

What a team! ISU’s RegenPGC Team Honored

WHAT A TEAM! The RegenPGC Team has won the 2024 Iowa State University Award for Interdisciplinary Team Research.

This award “recognizes an interdisciplinary team of two or more faculty researchers with outstanding achievements who have made a significant contribution to the university’s research and scholarship mission through successful interdisciplinary collaborations.”

This is a team award, but it reflects a group effort. We want to recognize everyone involved in the project, including our Stakeholder Advisory Board, our co-project directors, collaborators at Corteva Agrisciences, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, The Land Institute, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the 21 members of our Graduate Student Community. And, of course, we can’t forget the agency that made all this possible, our funder, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

A teacher ‘takes one’ for the kids

Some teachers are willing to go all the way for their students. That’s what James Wenman of the Holy Trinity Catholic School in Des Moines, Iowa, did when he spent a good part of the summer at Iowa State University.

Here is what James had to say at the end of his RET project: “This program has allowed me to see into the world of science through the eyes of a researcher. Research is a dynamic field, evolving constantly. It involves encountering errors, repeating activities, and undergoing continuous learning processes.”

James came into our Research Experience for Teachers program to expand his knowledge in different scientific areas to “bring cool things back to my classroom.” We think he nailed it with his project, “Adapting growing practices of North American maize production to improve environmental affects.” You can learn more about James’ research project, “at https://lnkd.in/gshd7KGK