The vision of RegenPGC is to make year-round groundcover on working lands the norm for Midwestern U.S. agriculture and beyond. Central to the approach is developing and de-risking perennial groundcover systems, where a perennial cover crop is planted once and then persists for multiple years alongside annual crops such as corn and soybean.
“One of our goals is finding a perennial ground cover that is paired in both space and time within the corn phase of the system,” said Andersen. “One species that is showing promise is Kentucky bluegrass, similar to what most people have in their lawns.”
In this system, the grass is growing between the rows with a strip-till zone for the corn plant. These species are complementary to each other – when the corn is active, the grass isn’t and when the grass is active the corn isn’t. There are different teams working on breeding for both corn and perennial ground cover, as well as methods to encourage senescence to reduce competition. An additional team is also focused on quantifying the ecological benefits of the system from reduced erosion and nitrogen leaching, as well as impacts on weed pressure and insects.
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Photo Credit: gettyimages-mvburling
Categories: Iowa, Crops, Corn, Soybeans