Organic Pioneer John Reganold presents 2024 Shivvers Memorial Lecture, March 18 

Award-winning researcher, educator and author John Reganold, Regents Professor of Soil Science and Agroecology at the Washington State University, will present the 2024 Shivvers Lecture on March 18, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 2226 Bessey Hall, 2200 Osborn Drive, on the Iowa State University campus. There will be a reception with light refreshments after the keynote speech.

The event will be hosted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (LCSA) and the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture (GPSA) at Iowa State. This lecture is presented in coordination with GPSA’s annual research symposium and will include short presentations by GPSA students on their research, starting at 5:30. The event is free and open to the public. 

Reganold has conducted research on more than 100 farms on five continents – measuring the effects of alternative and conventional farming on sustainability indicators of soil health, crop quality, financial performance, environmental quality and social responsibility. His research teams have developed extensive data sets showing that organic, biodynamic and integrated farming systems often offer environmental and social benefits when compared to conventional controls and can also be profitable. 

He developed WSU’s long-time Organic and Sustainable Agriculture major and its Organic Farming Certificate Program. He directs the 30-acre Eggert Family Organic Farm that provides food for the campus and community. 

His work, leadership and teaching have been widely recognized by groups including the Organic Center and the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science and, in 2022, received Rodale’s prestigious Organic Pioneer Award. 

Reganold earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate from the University of California at Davis. He worked as a soil scientist with the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resource Conservation Service) and as an environmental engineer for a mining company before joining the faculty of Washington State University in 1983. He is co-author of the textbook Natural Resource Conservation: Toward a Sustainable Future and co-editor of the book Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective. His work has appeared in publications as diverse as Science, Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Scientific American, The Economist and Harpers Wine and Spirit Weekly, and he has been an advisor for Gourmet Magazine and Scientific American.  

“We are excited and honored to be able to bring Dr. Reganold to Iowa to inspire our students and community with insights from his long career studying and championing sustainable and organic agriculture,” said Stephen J. Dinsmore, LCSA interim director. 

This lecture—focused on issues of sustainability, agriculture and the food system—has been presented by the LCSA at Iowa State University since 1969 in memory of John Shivvers, who farmed near Knoxville, Iowa, with support from the Shivvers Family. 

Contacts: 

Stephen Dinsmore, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, 515-294-1348, cootjr@iastate.edu 

Ann Robinson, Agriculture and Life Sciences Communications, 515-294-3066, ayr@iastate.edu 

Lynette Edsall, Graduate Program for Sustainable Agriculture, 515-294-1191, camelot@iastate.edu