Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment is home to a wide variety of research interests. Faculty work in diverse areas ranging from soil science to genetics, data analysis to watershed pollutants. Students are encouraged to join our faculty-scholars who are engaged in research pertinent to today's agricultural and environmental issues.
Interested in learning more regarding research? Contact us! ale@uvm.edu.
Areas of Research
Institute for Agroecology (IFA)
The UVM Institute for Agroecology (IFA) is seeks to transform our food systems into ones that are ecologically sound and socially just. IFA uses a systems approach that addresses the root causes of problems in the food system. We challenge the status quo by centering equity, participation and social transformation in our work. Through research, learning, action, and connecting across geographies, the IFA mobilizes knowledge to support agroecology research, practice and movements.
Crop Breeding, Genetics
The von Wettberg Lab is a group of evolutionary ecologists who use tools from population genetics, agronomy, conservation biology and field ecology to study how population bottlenecks affect genetic diversity and stress tolerance in wild relatives of crops and in endangered species.
Entomology
The Entomology Research Laboratory is committed to the development of effective biological control agents for forest, greenhouse and vegetable insect pest management.
Horticultural Research and Education
The UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center (HREC), also known as the “Hort Farm,” is the primary field laboratory site for applied teaching, research, and outreach activities on agronomic and horticultural crops, used for agricultural research and instruction of UVM classes.
Insect Agroecology and Evolution
The Insect Agroecology and Evolultion Lab focues on how humans have influenced insect pest evolution, genetics, and ecology by selecting particular strains of crop plants, cultivating crops, and moving them around the world. We research how these human-mediated historical ecological, evolutionary, and genetic changes have facilitated insect pest outbreaks in agricultural systems.
Land Use and Watershed Management
The Hurley Lab investigates mechanisms influencing sediment and nutrient retention and greenhouse gas emissions utilizing stormwater bioretention cells.
Northwest Crops and Soils Program
The Northwest Crops and Soils Program (NWCS) aims to provide the best and most relevant cropping information, both research-based and experiential, delivered in the most practical and understandable ways to Vermont farmers.
Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation
The SEGS Lab (Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation Lab) examines population dynamics within pest-crop agroecosystems, including the potential effects of climate change.
Soil Ecology Biological Indicators
The SEBIL Lab (Soil Biological Indicators Lab) develops biological indicators for environmental monitoring of agricultural, forest, and wetland soils.