AGRONOMY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2016/2017

Type of Course:

Characterising

Optional/Mandatory:

Compulsory

Degree:

Master's Degree Programme in AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

Disciplinary Sector:

Agronomy and Herbaceous Cultivation

Language:

Italian

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

ROGGERO Pier Paolo

Hours of classroom activity:

Prerequisites:

Suggested propaedeutic courses: Coltivazioni erbacee (field crops), Pedologia agraria (Soil science), Agricultural policy

AF code:

A000560

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

There will be assessments during the lectures, at the end of each of the main chapters. The final exam will be an oral presentation of a case study and an oral assessment on the course topics.

Teaching period

Second semester

Objectives

To facilitate learning to understand the potential and limits of quantitative and qualitative tools to support the design and sustainable agronomic management of cropping systems in different contexts.

To gain critical analytical capacity to support the design of interventions aimed at the adaptation of cropping systems to climatic and environmental changes, long term soil fertility management, combat desertification and land degradation, water resources conservation and biodiversity, to supporting decisions and choices among different options towards sustainable development.

Contents

Introduction to agro-ecosystems and sustainable development. The three UN convention on sustainable development (UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Sustainable Development Goals.
Agroecosystems, processes, factors, emerging properties. Nature of the issues.
Quantitative and qualitative tools for the integrated analysis of agricultural systems.
Impact of agricultural practices on soil fertility. Understandind soil fertility indicators useful to pathways towards sustainable management of agroecosystems. Hints on statistical procedures and modelling.

Cropping systems and environmental and climate changes. Impact assessment, adaptation and mitigation.

Agronomic options for the mitigation of climate change. Conservation agriculture, sustainable management of nutrient cycling in agroecosystems, soil conservation practices and prevention of water and air pollution.

Design of adaptive responses to climate change. Case study analyses.

Impact of agronomic practices on biodiversity. Agroecosystems and ecosystem services. Case study analyses.

Cropping systems to prevent soil erosion and land degradation: case study analyses.

Practice:
Tools for the integrated assessment of agroecosystems.
Case studies on water balance and fertilization in cropping systems. Application of mathematical models for cropping systems analysis.
Design of an improvement oriented to sustainable development in contextualized situations.

Case study analysis using interactive tools (diagrams, semi-structured interviews, working groups).

Recommended Bibliography

Loomis RS Connor DJ (1992). Crop ecology: productivity and management in agricultural systems. Cambridge University Press

Grignani C. 2016. Fertilizzazione sostenibile. Edagricole.

Ceccon P (ed.) 2017. Agronomia. Edises.

Books, scientific papers, web links, software, slides and other teaching material will be made available through the web.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

The course will combine formal lectures with practical sessions in the field, case study analyses, interactive workshops, practice aided by personal computer. The course is designed to facilitare a social learning process among the classmates, which will form working groups that at the end of the course will define their own improvement project to be illustrated at the final test. The teaching material will be shared in a cloud and will include powerpoint presentations, book chapters and scientific publications.

Contacts/More Information

Students must attend at least 70% of the lectures to be admitted to the final test. Working students must atted at least 30% of the lectures (preferably the practical sessions) to be admitted to the final test.

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AGRONOMY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT