Miguel Altieri has been teaching Agroecology – the relation between agricultural crops and the environment – at the University of California at Berkeley since 1981 in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Professor Altieri, who was born in Chile, is particularly interested in how the interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment affect agricultural systems in Central and South America. He has served as a scientific advisor to many prominent NGOs, including the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES), the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research and the FAO-GIAHS program (Globally Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems) a program devoted to identifying and dynamically conserving traditional farming systems in the developing world. He also served as General Coordinator for the United Nations Development Program’s Sustainable Agriculture Networking and Extension. Professor Altieri is also the general coordinator of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (www.agroeco.org/socla). Professor Altieri is the author of more than 200 publications, and numerous books including “Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity,” “Pest Management in Agroecosystems and Agroecology” and “The Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.”

“If we don’t take care of the soil which is just the first five centimeter layer of life that is on the earth, our future is totally condemned.” – Miguel Altieri, Dirt! The Movie