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Global Agroecosystems AGR 6932 (This Course Is Also Taught at the Undergraduate Level As AGR 4932) INSTRUCTORS: Dr

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Global Agroecosystems AGR 6932 (This Course Is Also Taught at the Undergraduate Level As AGR 4932) INSTRUCTORS: Dr Global Agroecosystems AGR 6932 (This course is also taught at the undergraduate level as AGR 4932) INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Diane Rowland, Associate Professor, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Agronomy Department, 3105 McCarty Hall-B, P.O. Box 110500, Gainesville, FL 32611-0500; [email protected] Dr. George Hochmuth, Professor, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Soil and Water Science Department, G175 McCarty Hall-A, P.O. Box 110290, Gainesville, FL 32611-0290; [email protected] Dr. Jerry Bennett, Professor, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Agronomy Department, 3105 McCarty Hall-B, P.O. Box 110500, Gainesville, FL 32611-0500; [email protected] CONTACT: Dr. Diane Rowland Office Location: G062 McCarty Hall-D E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: 229-869-2952 Fax: 352-392-1840 COURSE OFFERRED: Every Fall Semester, resident and distance education TIMES: MWF Period 4 (10:40 am – 11:30 am) CREDIT HOURS: 3 OFFICE HOURS: 11:30-12:30 MWF following class or by appointment PREREQUISITES Introduction to Soils (SWS 3022), Soils for Environmental Professionals (SWS 5050), Applied Field Crop Production (AGR 4214C), and Agricultural Ecology (ALS 3153), or equivalents, or approval by the instructors. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course focuses on the principles of agroecology and presentation of topics that integrate ecological with agricultural principles to optimize resource conservation, productivity, societal benefit, and profitability. COURSE OVERVIEW: There is a need for students trained broadly in agriculture, including agriculture’s role in ecology as farming systems become more complex. This context is found in the “triple bottom line” of economics, environment, and society. This course will emphasize greater understanding of this triple bottom line in agricultural production in an ecosystem context, often termed agroecology. It will focus on the global trends of increasing population and land-use pressure; diminishing soil, water, nutrient, and energy resources; concern over the negative impacts of agricultural production on the environment; and increasing awareness of the potential ecosystem service benefits from agriculture. COURSE OBJECTIVES: The overall objectives of the course are to provide students with: 1) understanding of the complex interactions that occur in agroecosystems; and 2) the ability to apply this knowledge to the design and management of sustainable agricultural production systems. STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Following this course, students are expected to: 1. Describe and understand global agricultural production systems and their role in facing the challenge of increasing global population. 2. Evaluate and discuss agricultural production issues from environmental, economic, and societal perspectives. 3. Analyze research literature dealing with the sustainability of agriculture. 4. Synthesize and apply the knowledge gained in this course to assess emerging agricultural production systems. 5. Use principles learned in this course to synthesize and evaluate a relevant and timely global issue in agroecology and effectively communicate in video format. CLASS FORMAT Three 50-minute periods per week. Delivery will be synchronous and asynchronous through videotaped classroom lectures. TEXTBOOK None required. Readings will be assigned for each module of the course. The following textbooks are useful references for the course: Altieri, M.A. 1995. Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture, 2nd edition. Westview Press, Boulder Colorado. Bohlen, P.J., and G. House. 2010. Sustainable Agroecosystem Management: Integrating Ecology, Economics, and Society. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Jackson, L.E. 1997. Ecology in Agriculture. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Scherr, S.J., and J.A. McNeely (eds.). 2007. Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture. Island Press, Washington, DC. Sinclair, T.R., and A. Weiss. 2010. Principles of Ecology in Plant Production, 2nd edition. CAB International. 186 pp. Sinclair, T.R., and C.J. Sinclair. 2010. Bread, Beer and the Seeds of Change: Agriculture’s Imprint on World History. CAB International. 288 pp. Vandermeer, J.H. 2010. The Ecology of Agroecosystems. Jones & Bartlett Learning, Sudbury, MA. Wojtkowski, P.A. 2006. Introduction to Agroecology: Principles and Practices. Psychology Press, Binghamton, NY. ASSIGNED READINGS Ausubel, J.H., I. Wernick, and P.E. Waggoner. 2012. Peak farmland and the prospect for land sparing. http://phe.rockefeller.edu/docs/PDR.SUPP%20Final%20Paper.pdf Deepak, K.R., N. Ramankutty, N.D. Mueller, P.C. West, and J.A Foley. 2012. Recent patterns of crop yield growth and stagnation. Nature Communications. 3:1293. Doi:10.1038/ncomms2296. Foley, J.A., N. Ramankutty, K.A. Brauman, E.S. Cassidy, J.S. Gerber, M. Johnston, N.D. Mueller, C. O'Connell, D.K. Ray, P.C. West, C. Balzer, E.M. Bennett, S.R. Carpenter, J. Hill, C. Monfreda, S. Polasky, J. Rockstrom, J. Sheehan, S. Siebert, D. Tilman and D.P.M. Zaks. 2011. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478:337-342. Jansen, H.H., P.E. Fixen, A.J. Franzleubbers, J. Hattey, R.C. Izaurralde, Q.M. Ketterlings, D.A. Lobb, and W.H. Schlessinger. 2011. Global prospects rooted in soil science. Soil Science Society of America Journal 75:1-8. Nickerson, C., R. Ebel, A. Borchers, and F. Carriazo. 2011. Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2007, EIB-89, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/188404/eib89_2_.pdf Pretty, J.N. 1997. The sustainable intensification of agriculture. Natural Resources Forum 21(4): 247-256. Sutton M.A., A. Bleeker, C.M. Howard, M. Bekunda, B. Grizzetti, W. de Vries, H.J.M. van Grinsven, Y.P. Abrol, T.K. Adhya, G. Billen, E.A. Davidson, A. Datta, R. Diaz, J.W. Erisman, X.J. Liu, O. Oenema, C. Palm, N. Raghuram, S. Reis, R.W. Scholz, T. Sims, H. Westhoek & F.S. Zhang., with contributions from S. Ayyappan, A.F. Bouwman, M. Bustamante, D. Fowler, J.N. Galloway, M.E. Gavito, J. Garnier, S. Greenwood, D.T. Hellums, M. Holland, C. Hoysall, V.J. Jaramillo, Z. Klimont, J.P. Ometto, H. Pathak, V. Plocq Fichelet, D. Powlson, K. Ramakrishna, A. Roy, K. Sanders, C. Sharma, B. Singh, U. Singh, X.Y. Yan & Y. Zhang. 2013. Our Nutrient World: The challenge to produce more food and energy with less pollution. Global Overview of Nutrient Management. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh on behalf of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management and the International Nitrogen Initiative. Tainter, J.A. 2006. Archeology of overshoot and collapse. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 35:59– 74. SPECIAL SOFTWARE None required E-LEARNING E-learning Sakai. The entire course will be managed through e-learning using Sakai. This is a fully on-line course delivered in E-Learning Sakai, the centrally-supported course management system at UF. Sakai is the on-line source for the majority of your learning resources and assignments in this course. For a tutorial regarding E-Learning Sakai functionality, go to https://lss.at.ufl.edu/sakai-training/student_index.shtml. Students enrolled in the course should login to Sakai on the first day of the course at: http://lss.at.ufl.edu. You will use your Gatorlink name and password to login to Sakai. All PowerPoint presentations that support the lectures will be posted within the “Lessons” section of Sakai, as well as additional readings on the lecture topics. Threads of discussion on assigned topics and readings will be posted to the “Discussion” section of Sakai and all students will be expected to contribute to the discussions. Course announcements, general course information and all course communications will also be delivered within Sakai. EVALUATION OF STUDENTS The class is graded on the point scale, totaling 125 points. Class participation will be 25 points towards the final grade and will be comprised of discussions of assigned scientific readings on advanced topics. There will be two exams and a final exam, each accounting for 25 points. All students will complete exams online through Sakai. On exams, graduate students will answer in-depth discussion questions beyond those expected of the undergraduate students. For an additional 25 points, graduate students will complete a literature research project involving identification of a current issue in agroecology, review of the pertinent research, description of innovative strategies for its mitigation, and identification of gaps in the science. Students will present their projects in a You-Tube video format posted to the e-learning site for the class. The research project deadline is 11/04/13. Make-up exams will be approved only due to illness or extreme family needs, or important excused activities required by another class. Make-up exams must be approved prior to the regularly scheduled exam, and must be made-up within two class periods. If you are unable to take the exam due to illness, contact the instructor prior to the exam to confirm your absence. GRADING : We will use the following grading for the course: • A 117-125 points • A- 112-116 points • B+ 108-111 points • B 103-107 points • B- 100-102 points • C+ 96-99 points • C 91-95 points • C- 87-90 points • D+ 83-86 points • D 79-82 points • D- 75-78 points • E <75 points Grades and Grade Points Effective May 11, 2009 - Summer A http://registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html Letter Grade A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- E WF I NG S-U Grade Points 4.0 3.67 3.33 3.0 2.67 2.33 2.0 1.67 1.33 1.0 .67 0 0 0 0 0 For information on current UF policies for assigning grade points, see https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/grades.aspx CLASS PARTICIPATION AND ATTENDANCE We expect that all students will participate in the class by actively engaging in on-line discussions which will comprise 25 points of the final course grade.
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