More honors and recognition for the RegenPGC Graduate Education Community

Our 18-member Graduate Education Community (https://www.regenpgc.org/theme-3-education/graduate-education-copy/) never stops impressing us with their dedication to good research and the RegenPGC vision.* But this month shows what an interesting and talented group we have.

Hallie Sandeen (University of Kentucky / Mentor Dr. Erin Haramoto) received a 1st place award at the University of Kentucky’s Integrated Plant & Soil Science Department Fall 2024 Symposium for her poster “Evaluation of Poacae Species and Suppression Application Methods for Permanent Groundcover in Corn.” Earlier this year, Hallie was recognized as the Weed Science Society of America’s 2025 Photographer of the Year! At the Society’s Annual Meeting in Vancouver.

We learned Graduate Student Jack Moran’s (Iowa State University / Mentors Drs. Susan Goggi & Ken Moore) interesting backstory of how he made it from Multyfarnham, Central Ireland, to Iowa State University. Jack’s Iowa State University ‘origin story’ was shared in an article by the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Office for Global Engagement. You can read “From Exchange Student to a Master’s Degree: a Global Journey to Iowa State University” at https://global.ag.iastate.edu/news/2025/exchange-student-masters-degree-global-journey-iowa-state-university

*Our vision is to create well-adapted PGC systems for a range of farm operations that require low labor inputs, provide significant ecosystem benefits, increase row crop resiliency, and have similar economic profiles as conventional row crop practices.

New research released on the economics of perennial groundcover

There is an adage that says if you want to find something, follow the money. Our researchers, Cynthia Bartel, Keri Jacobs, Ken Moore, and Raj Raman, did just that with their latest journal publication.

Their paper, Anticipatory technoeconomic evaluation of Kentucky Bluegrass-based perennial groundcover implementations in large-scale Midwestern US corn production systems, utilizes an enterprise budget framework to examine and compare expected costs and revenues associated with establishing and maintaining perennial groundcover in row crop systems with standard continuous corn (SCC) (Zea mays L.) production. The good news is that the article is an open-access publication and written in an accessible style.

Bartel, Cynthia A., Jacobs, Keri L., Moore, Kenneth J., & Raman, D.Raj. (2024). Anticipatory technoeconomic evaluation of Kentucky Bluegrass-based perennial groundcover implementations in large-scale Midwestern US corn production systems. Sustainability, 2024, 16(16), 7112. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167112. Open access.