Elliot is the Central Coast Project Manager for Sustainable Conservation. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 2020 with majors in Economics and Environmental Studies concentrated in Agroecology. As an undergrad, he worked for UCSC’s Center for Agroecology as a student assistant at the Chadwick Garden and as a farm hand for Route One Farms, a 40-acre organic vegetable farm in Santa Cruz County. He joined the first cohort of UC Berkeley’s Americorp program, GrizzlyCorps, shortly after graduation and was placed with Sustainable Conservation. His fellowship was focused on researching how soil health practices can impact California’s agricultural watershed and interviewing farmers about the relative barriers to adoption. Elliot’s fellowship helped scope a new program for Sustainable Conservation, around water and soil health, called Solution in our Soils.
He joined the staff as a project associate in 2021 and is now managing the Central Coast Solution in our Soils team. Their focus is on improving groundwater quality and addressing nitrate leaching in the root zone through the use of cover crops and high carbon amendments. The team works on increasing the pace and scale of research, supporting the adoption of more established practices, and engaging in water quality policies like the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program. Elliot resides in Santa Cruz where he enjoys surfing, fly-fishing, and growing flowers.