[1] He was born Patrick Vickers, in Devizes, Wiltshire, and grew up on a smallholding in Somerset before studying agriculture at Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire.

After several years working in agriculture in the Middle East and Africa, he returned to Somerset and bought a flower-rich hay meadow, the White Field near Butleigh, to maintain it as a nature reserve.

[1][2] As well as producing vegetables, Whitefield undertook a variety of traditional country crafts, and for a period was a prominent member of the Ecology Party (forerunner of the Green Party of England and Wales) and was involved in the early years of the Glastonbury music festival.

He was interviewed in several television programmes advocating permaculture, including the BBC's It's Not Easy Being Green (2006) and A Farm for the Future (2008).

He also worked as a permaculture design consultant, and set up Patrick Whitefield Associates to pass on his skills and experience to a new generation of teachers.