In this episode of FieldSound, we meet Eli Wheat, an assistant teaching professor in the University of Washington’s Program on the Environment, an environmental studies program housed within the College of the Environment. Wheat is passionate about sustainable farming, and our relationship as humans with the land and food we consume.

Wheat, who is also a core faculty member in the UW School of Public Health’s Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health program, brings a unique perspective as both a farmer and a scholar. He is helping to bridge the gap between academia and agriculture, inspiring the next generation to care for our planet.

Wheat’s teaching laboratory is UW Farm, which began as a student organization in the early 2000s and has grown to encompass three locations across the Seattle campus. Students from many UW departments and majors are able to get out and experience food production in an urban setting.

Beyond the campus, Wheat owns and operates SkyRoot Farm, a 20-acre certified organic animal and vegetable farm on Whidbey Island. SkyRoot’s farming practices are based on an ecosystem approach to land management in agriculture, and they grow mostly vegetables — plus keep a small herd of goats.

https://environment.uw.edu/podcast