Mission

We investigate agricultural diversification practices at multiple scales, their socioeconomic context, and how they affect plant-soil-microbe interactions that underpin key ecosystem processes. We use field, greenhouse, and lab experiments to ask applied research questions, and employ statistical and process-based models to scale our results. Core to this work is sustaining a lab environment that fosters creative exchange and supportive mentoring across all career levels. We seek to integrate and learn from practitioner knowledge by building relationships with farmers and ranchers in both rural and urban settings. We closely collaborate with researchers in social science, policy, and economics, as well as extension and advocacy organizations to work collectively toward transforming our agricultural system from one reliant on intensive, synthetic inputs to one based on ecological processes. Taken together, the Berkeley Agroecology Lab aspires to create productive, resilient, and healthy agricultural systems while supporting communities that face social and environmental challenges. Read more about our research.