About the network
Our nationwide team aims to breed and release improved cover crop varieties by:
Advancing cover crop genetics using traditional breeding, marker-assisted selection, high-throughput phenotyping, genome sequencing, and multi-environment trials;
Engaging farmers through surveys to identify breeding targets, facilitating on-farm selection, and conducting participatory variety testing to select lines for release;
Multi-environment testing of advanced breeding lines at over a dozen nationwide sites (including USDA-NRCS-PMCs) to identify what varieties perform best in specific regions.
See what we do
PEOPLE
Project directors
Virginia Moore - Cornell vm377@cornell.edu
Chris Reberg-Horton - NCSU screberg@ncsu.edu
Steven Mirksy - USDA-ARS Steven.Mirsky@usda.gov
Heathcliffe Riday - USDA-ARS Heathcliffe.Riday@usda.gov
Network Coordinator
Solveig Hanson - Cornell ccbn@cornell.edu
Crop Leaders
Crimson Clover
Virginia Moore - Cornell vm377@cornell.edu
Hairy Vetch
Lisa Kissing-Kucek - USDA Lisa.Kucek@usda.gov
Winter Pea
Lais Bastos Martins - NCSU lbastos@ncsu.edu
Principal investigators
David Archer - USD-ARS david.archer@usda.gov
Gerald Smith - TAMUS Gerald.Smith@ag.tamu.edu
John Englert - USDA-PMC John.Englert@usda.gov
John Guretzky - UNL jguretzky2@unl.edu
John Hendrickson - USDA-ARS john.hendrickson@usda.gov
Jude Maul - USDA-ARS Jude.Maul@usda.gov
Kerry Clark - UM ClarkK@missouri.edu
Mark Azevedo - USDA-ARS mark.azevedo@usda.gov
Matt Ryan - Cornell mrr232@cornell.edu
Nancy Ehlke - UMN nancy@umn.edu
Ramon Leon Gonzalez - NCSU rleon@ncsu.edu
Rebecca McGee - USDA-ARS rebecca.mcgee@usda.gov
Robert Stupar - UMN stup0004@umn.edu
Ryan Hayes - USDA-ARS ryan.hayes@usda.gov
J. Paul Murphy - NCSU paul_murphy@ncsu.edu
Steve Zwinger - NDSU steve.zwinger@ndsu.edu
Collaborators
Adria Fernandez - UMN ferna108@umn.edu
Allen Burke - USDA-ARS Allen.Burke@usda.gov
Allen Casey - USDA-PMC Allen.Casey@usda.gov
Amy Bartow - USDA-PMC amy.bartow@usda.gov
Brandon Carr - USDA-PMC brandon.carr@usda.gov
Chris Pelzer - Cornell University cjp254@cornell.edu
Christopher Bernau - USDA-PMC christopher.bernau@usda.gov
Derek Tilley - USDA-PMC Derek.Tilley@usda.gov
Heidi Hillhouse - UNL hhillhouse3@unl.edu
Holly Johnson - USDA-ARS holly.johnson@usda.gov
Joel Douglas - USDA-PMC Joel.Douglas@usda.gov
John Hendrickson - USDA-ARS john.hendrickson@usda.gov
Mara Friddle - USDA-PMC mara.friddle@usda.gov
Margaret Smither-Kopperl - USDA-PMC Margaret.Smither-Kopperl@usda.gov
Mark Doudlah - Farmer breeder
Nick Wiering - UMN wieri014@umn.edu
Nicolas Enjalbert - SeedLinked nico@seedlinked.com
Prasanna Ayyaru Thevar - UNL prasanna.ayyaruthevar@unl.edu
Ramona Garner - USDA-PMC Ramona.Garner@usda.gov
Richard Barrett - USDA-PMC Richard.Barrett@usda.gov
Ronald L. Cordsiemon II - USDA-PMC ron.cordsiemon@usda.gov
Ruth Mangum - USDA-ARS Ruth.Mangum@usda.gov
Sarah Seehaver Eagen - NCSU saseehav@ncsu.edu
Theresa Podoll - Farmer breeder
Valerie Bullard - USDA-PMC valerie.bullard@usda.gov
Wendy Johnson - Farmer breeder