The Food Systems Research Center (FSRC) is excited to announce Dr. Eric Bishop von Wettberg as April’s Food Systems Researcher of the month. Dr. Bishop von Wettberg is an Associate Professor at ̽̽’s Plant and Soil Science Department. He earned his BA in Biology from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Brown University. His laboratory studies crops’ genetic diversity and the negative impacts of population bottlenecks on their resilience to climate change and capacity to adapt to new or altered habitats.
1. What current food systems research are you conducting?
One of the several activities we are very excited about this summer is a FSRC-supported project examining how the genetic background of beans interacts with the environment where they are grown and the way they are managed. These GEM (Genotype-Environment-Interactions) can have substantial impacts on the nutritional value of crops like beans, one of the most popular sources of plant protein in the northeast and globally. These interactions can be mediated by plant-associated microbes, which will be examining in indigenous “3-sisters” agricultural systems. This research, which involves a collaboration with Drs. Jana Kraft and Heather Darby and a number of different community partners, will be led by Bailey Kretzler, a Ph.D student in my lab.
A second set of projects continue our efforts to introduce new crops to Vermont. We host a trial of kernza, a perennial relative of wheat and rye that has deep roots and the capacity to yield a grain crop for several years without any soil tillage. The project will be led this year by two fellows in the AX fellows REU program led by Vic Izzo and Scott Lewins, and will involve high school students from the Agrotek high school internship program led by Sarah Klienman and Scott Lewins. Emmanuel Brefo, a msc student in our group, is working on overwintering peas. Although peas are a well-established crop in Vermont, most are grown through the summer. By exploring pea cultivars that can be planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, we hope to allow farmers to double crop, getting more than one harvest from a single field, and reaping the benefits of a cover crop at lower costs. Similarly, we are also exploring mungbean, a beloved legume first domesticated in South Asia where it is consumed as a type of dahl, but is also central to food traditions in Southeast and East Asia. With a very short lifecycle, mungbeans can be grown after overwinter cereals like rye, potentially allowing farmers to double crop. Aislinn Costa, an undergraduate, will work on a planting date trial. Jasmine Hart, a Ph.D student in our group, is exploring mungbeans as an intercrop grown with silage corn, an important animal feed. Niloo Nikravesh, another Ph.D student, is looking at how mungbeans and another closely related species, urdbeans, respond to clay soils.
A third research area looks at how farming practices impact soil carbon and soil health more broadly. In a NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant with the Vermont Land Trust, Biological Capital LLC, and colleagues in CDAE (Travis Reynolds, Mario Machado, and Dimagi Pitiwala and Extension (Juan Alvez, ), we are examining how managed intensive rotational grazing, compost and amendment integration, and inter-seeding and cover cropping impact pasture ecosystem services and farm economic viability and livelihoods. We will be sampling fields throughout the summer, while our partners continue survey and interview work.
2. What got you interested in food systems research?
My parents were homesteaders in Upstate New York. We strove to grow much of our own food. Through my childhood we built a vibrant garden through intensive composting and intercropping. Behind our house, I watched through my childhood as the neighboring family dairy declined and was converted to housing. More recently, we lived in Miami for seven years, where the impacts of climate change are an everyday nuisance, from flooded streets to zoonotic disease outbreaks. My passion for food systems grows out of these experiences and observations, and a desire to contribute to solutions.
3. How is your FSRC-funded research impacting Vermonters?
We hope our work on indigenous agricultural systems honors these practices and the communities who cherish them, while shedding light on how they nurture healthy foods. Our work to introduce new crops to Vermont aims to give farmers tested options for crops, and to increase the amount of plant-based protein produced in our region. Our work on grazing aims to understand whether grass-based animal production systems can be both economically viable and environmentally friendly.
4. Where do you see the role of your field in expanding research on food systems at ̽̽ and beyond?
I believe that much innovation in science can happen by bringing perspectives and approaches from other disciplines together. One of my first advisors started a successful career by applying the Gini coefficient from economics to the ecological study of plant communities. I hope similar advances can be made in understanding how management practices and environments interact with crop genetic background to give food terroir, or impact nutritional value.
5. What is something about you people would be surprised to learn?
I have had the opportunity to visit 49 of the 50 states. I hope to visit the last one this summer.
6. What’s your favorite thing about living in Vermont?
There are many things I love about living in Vermont, such as the progression of the seasons, fall foliage, and skiing. But more than anything, my favorite attribute of Vermont is its sense of community. I lived and studied in Denmark as a Fulbright scholar before graduate school. The Danes have a word that is difficult to fully translate, hyggelig, which roughly means cozy or nice, but is often used to describe how they hope their society functions. A member of a community should care for one another, with civil discourse and respect for one another. Vermont is hyggelig in many ways.
7. What TV show, band/artist, podcast, video game, book, and/or anything are you most obsessed with right now?
My summer reading list includes returning to Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, Elinor Ostrum’s The Governing of the Commons, and David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything.
The Food Systems Research Center is a collaborative effort with the USDA focused on utilizing transdisciplinary research to address pressing food systems issues in Vermont and the Northeast. If you know a researcher at ̽̽ who would be an excellent researcher of the month, please reach out!
