We all could benefit from reconnecting to soil, land, trees, and where our food comes from and how food is produced. Dr. Wayne Teel is a professor of geography at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He shares with Mary Sketch Bryant and Jeff Ishee how he works with his students at JMU to connect them to a farmer or field experience so the connection is real and tangible. 

Dr. Teel shares stories of his own experience working on a farm in the Columbia River basin in eastern Washington and his international experience working with farmers in Kenya and Mozambique. Wayne discusses and defines agroforestry for us and how managing interactions between plants, trees, and livestock can provide multiple benefits. He encourages farmers and landowners who are interested in agroforestry and practices like a riparian buffer of trees and plants to start small and observe what is naturally in the streamside area.

To learn about Dr. Teel's education and research interests, please visit JMU's faculty expert site at https://www.jmu.edu/university-communications/faculty-experts/experts/teel-wayne/index.shtml. Dr. Teel's book "Regenerating the Ecology of Place" is available online and from independent bookstores. 

For questions about agroforestry and soil and water conservation practices like riparian buffers, call or visit a USDA Service Center, or a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office. You may also be interested in Virginia Cooperative Extension's educational programs and Virginia's Agroforestry Regional Knowledge (ARK) Exchange. 

To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and join the Coalition's quarterly meetings, please visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. Recent 4 The Soil blog posts resources can be accessed at https://www.4thesoil.org/.

As always, we encourage you to join the 4 The Soil movement and to reconnect with soil, land, trees, and the farm community. Yes, we can all be 4 The Soil.