Course teacher(s)
Marjolein VISSER (Coordinator)ECTS credits
5
Language(s) of instruction
french
Course content
THEORY:
1. Introduction: definition and history of agroecology, ecological bases for a new farming revolution under population pressure
2. the AGER (arable field): critical analysis of a scientific paper, the history of agronomy through the case study of organic plant nutrition, soil ecology
3. The SALTUS (grassland and grazed lands in general): How the grass grows, how to manage SALTUS in order to improve AGER, principles of mob grazing, principles of grass-legume coupling, re-insert grassland into the crop rotation
4. the SILVA: re-insert woody elements in the farmed landscape, the field and/or the crop rotation. Principles of mixed cropping, agroforestry
5. Conclusion with socio-economic perspectives: different farming styles and ways to connect with consumer households
EXCURSIONS (1 credit)
A least three different visits to at least two farms and one food-transformation unit, variable each year
PERSONAL FIELD WORK
Visit, discuss, analyse and diagnose a "non-conventional farm" (to be defined), one per pair of students
READING
Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)
To define agroecology as the ecology of food systems, to describe the history of its emergence and to teach the basics of ecological reasoning applied on the management of food systems.
To continue with the logics of the theoretical frameworks taught in "Agro-ecosystems and farming systems"
Teaching methods and learning activities
THEORY: ex-cathedra teaching
Excursions guided by professors
Personal work: coaching as necessary
Contribution to the teaching profile
This course is optional after the previous course, for students wishing to go deepen their knowledge about ways to make contemporary farming more in accordance with ecological and agroecological principles.
References, bibliography, and recommended reading
Boserup, E., 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change Under Population Pressure Earthscan, Oxford.
Diamond, J., 1997. Guns, germs and steel. The fate of human societies, Norton & Company, New York.
Diamond, J., 2006. Collapse. How societies choose to fail or to survive, Penguin, USA.
Gliessman, S. R., 2006. The ecology of sustainable food systems, CRC Press, USA.
Mazoyer, M., Roudart, L., 1997. Histoire des agricultures du monde. Du néolithique à la crise contemporaine, Seuil, Paris.
Pimentel, D., Pimentel, M., 1979. Food, energy and society, Hodder Arnold, USA.
Pimentel, D., Pimentel, M., 2008. Food, energy and society, third edition, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton.
Slicher Van Bath, B. H., 1963. The agrarian history of western Europe, Edward Arnold, London.
Tainter, J. A., 1988. The collapse of complex societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Turner, B. L., Fischer-Kowalski, M., 2010. Ester Boserup: an interdisciplinary visionary relevant for sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107, 21963-21965.
Evaluation
Method(s) of evaluation
- Other
Other
Farm report (per pair of student: 1 credit
Book: 1 credit
Excursions and theory: written examen with oral defense (3 credits)
Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)
Farm report (per pair of student: 1 credit
Book: 1 credit
Excursions and theory: written examen with oral defense (3 credits)