Elobeid honored with research award

It’s raining awards on our RegenPGC Team, but that’s no surprise given the quality of our research collaborators and graduate students. Today, the sun shines brightly on Dr. Amani Elobeid from our Socioeconomic Impacts & Policy Objective.

Dr. Elobeid, who is an Iowa State University professor in economics and the Ron and Lynn Deiter Endowed Chair for Sustaining Excellence in Agricultural Business, has been honored with the term faculty 2025 Outstanding Achievement in Research Award from the Iowa State University – College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Dr. Elobeid was recognized for her impressive research portfolio that addresses such issues as the causes of food insecurity, World Trade Organization trade agreements and their impact on the developing world, and the effects of biofuels, among other issues. Dr. Elobeid has more than 30 academic publications. She also has a powerful teaching presence at Iowa State University.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Iowa State University
(Photo: Courtesy of Iowa State University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences)

Lṻbberstedt receives ISU 2025 Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture Award

Dr. Thomas Lṻbberstedt, RegenPGC Co-Project Director of our Breeding and Genetics Objective, has been honored by his peers with the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Science 2025 Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture Award.

In the RegenPGC project, Dr. Lṻbberstedt is the co-leader with Dr. Shuizhang Fei of our Breeding and Genetics Objective, where his work focuses on Evaluating maize x PGC (GxM) interactions.

Among Dr. Lṻbberstedt’s many talents is his ability to attract excellent graduate students, including many international students. He is currently working with RegenPGC graduate student Memis Bilgici and PostDoc Yu Ru Chen. Throughout his career at ISU, Dr. Lubberstedt has been a major or co-major professor for 41 doctorate students and 21 master’s degree students. Additionally, he has supervised 17 postdoctoral researchers and 83 visiting scientists and students.

In 2024, Dr. Lṻbberstedt was also awarded the ISU Award for Achievement in Intellectual Property. This award recognizes individuals or teams of faculty and professional and scientific staff for outstanding university-based achievements in producing intellectual property.

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

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 & Nutrition 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 Ccop 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

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
• Shuizhang 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.

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.

Graduate students are our Research Project’s Superpower

Marvel and D.C. Comics have a lot of superpower characters; we have our Graduate Education Community! Granted, our 19 grad students don’t wear flashy tights, but they represent the future of ag sciences, and we think they have some serious superpowers driving our perennial groundcover research forward at a fast clip.

Meet Sagar Dahal, the newest member of our Graduate Education Community. Sagar is a PhD student in Agricultural Economics with academic interests in price analysis, futures and options, risk management, and commodity markets. Sagar will be working with RegenPGC CoProject Director Dr. Amani Elobeid.

Sagar holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal, and an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His master’s thesis, “Exploring the Presence of Nonlinear Deterministic Dynamics in Commodity Prices,” reflects his deep interest in understanding complex market behaviors.

During his Masters’ studies, Sagar worked as a Graduate Research Assistant, where he gained experience in academic writing, data management, and analysis. He also gained teaching experience as a Teaching Assistant for Applied Econometrics and Introduction to Microeconomics.

Sagar enjoys listening to music, watching movies, hiking, and camping in his free time. Learn more about Sagar and his colleagues at https://www.regenpgc.org/theme-3-education/graduate-education/.

Philip Rockson is the latest RegenPGC student to earn a Master’s degree

Please join us in congratulating RegenPGC graduate student Philip E. Rockson (Rockson) on the acceptance of his Master’s thesis at Iowa State University, “Visualization of agricultural field operations,” available at https://lnkd.in/g-w-tkAd.

Rockson was mentored throughout by RegenPGC Project Director Dr. Dave Raj Raman and was also assisted by RegenPGC CoPd Dr. Daniel Andersen. Rockson is now working on adding a Ph.D. to his list of accomplishments. We are pleased that he has chosen Iowa State University for his Ph.D. studies. You can learn more about Rockson and his RegenPGC Graduate Education Community colleagues at https://lnkd.in/gMHFKXMk.

Before joining the Iowa State University graduate student community, Rockson earned a degree in Agricultural Engineering in Ghana. Afterward, he gained his first experience working with national farms. As he pursued his interests in technology, Rockson had the opportunity to work with startups, gaining valuable experience in industry. Eventually, he joined the technology division of a bank with a presence across Africa, where he worked on developing services and applications. Seeking to delve further into agriculture, engineering, and technology, Rockson returned to school to explore research opportunities in regenerative and precision agriculture. We are so pleased that he found a home with the RegenPGC research team!