MIDWEST COVER CROPS COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Tom Kaspar

Tom Kaspar is a Plant Physiologist at the USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, IA and a Collaborator/Professor with the Agronomy Department at Iowa State University. He earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Iowa State University.  Dr. Kaspar’s research program focuses mainly on crop and soil management to improve water quality and soil productivity. He has conducted field-scale research on the effects of soil management and soil properties on crop root growth, water infiltration, stand establishment, and spatial variability of crop yield. His recent research has focused on the environmental benefits of winter rye cover crops in corn-soybean rotations.

Eileen Kladivko

Dr. Eileen J. Kladivko is Professor of Agronomy at Purdue University, where she teaches and does research in soil physics, soil biology, and soil management.  Her overall research focus has been to identify soil management systems that improve environmental quality and promote agricultural sustainability.  Specific research areas have included the impacts of tile drainage on crop yields and nitrate losses to surface waters; the interactions of earthworms, soil management, and soil physical properties; conservation tillage and cover crops for soil quality improvement; and preferential flow of chemicals through soils. (Read more about Eileen's work here.)

Dale Mutch

Mutch has more than 27 years of research and Extension experience in organic farming, IPM, cover crops and sustainable agriculture.  He has served on the NCR-SARE Administrative Council, Technical Committee and Producer Grants Program.  In July 2007, Mutch became Michigan’s Sustainable Agriculture State Coordinator for NCR-SARE.  His career emphasis has been on low-input and organic farming systems.  His applied research focuses on participatory projects that use farmer advisory teams to direct and validate the work.  Mutch manages ten OCIA-certified organic research acres.

Alan Sundermeier

Alan Sundermeier is an Ohio State University Extension Educator (Wood County) with speciealization in sustainable agriculture. He earned his B.S. degree in Agronomy at the Ohio State University and his M.S. degree in Environmental Management at the University of Findlay.
Alan is also the Co-Coordinator of the OSU Extension Sustainable Agriculture Team, as well as
the Co-Principle Investigator of the Hirzel Sustainable Systems Project. His cover crop research includes on-farm and university test plots with legume, grass, and brassica species to provide or recycle nutrients for grain production or supplemental forage production.

Anne Verhallen 

Anne Verhallen is the Soil Management Specialist for Horticultural Crops in the Province of Ontario. She has been working for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs since 1988 promoting soil conservation and soil management. In the past she has worked on wind erosion prevention, reduced tillage, refining fertility recommendations in tomatoes and sugar beets and compaction amelioration. Her current areas of focus include soil health, irrigation and cover crops. She has concentrated much of her cover crop field work on specific niches like early harvested vegetable crops like processing peas, snap beans and sweet corn. As part of the OMAFRA Soil Team she helps to deliver training on various soil management topics including cover crops. She is also the current chair of the Ontario Soil Management Research and Services Committee.

Donald Wyse

Dr. Wyse is a Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, and Co-Director of the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches and does research in weed biology and ecology, biological weed management, agroecology, and perennial crop breeding. His overall research focus has been on the development of multifunctional cropping systems that produce ecosystem services, are highly productive, and economically viable.  Specific research areas have included the design of cropping systems that provide continuous living cover and the evaluation of their impact on soil erosion, nutrient, and water management; impact of cropping systems on management of invasive species; use of cover crops to develop no-tillage organic grain and vegetable cropping systems; breeding of perennial grasses, perennial sunflower, and perennial flax; breeding and selection of hairy vetch and mustard species as cover crops.

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