| Department of Agriculture and Ecology
80 % Forest & Landscape 20 % | |||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination and oral examination Portfolio Examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: 5 out of 7 produced deliverables, covering the course topics, are submitted in a portfolio at the end of the course. Assessment is based partly on the written portfolio, partly on an individual oral exam Weight: Portfolio 2/3, oral examination 1/3 7-point scale, internal examiner | ||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | EXTRAORDINARILY OFFERED IN DANISH IN 2008/09. COURSE LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH FROM 2009. Lectures, excursions, class discussion and exercises. | ||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: A | ||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | Ingen | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||||||
| Working with farming systems is a way to approach the large diversity in farms and farmers. Farming systems are central in relation to food production, ressource management, environmental impact and rural development. Existing farming systems are the expression of what is possible under various external conditions: natural conditions such as soils and climate, socio-economic conditions like markets and policies, and social conditions like ownership and production ideology. In this course farms are approached as systems with internal interactions and external conditions and impacts. | |||||||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||
| Learning activities in the course comprise lectures, exercises and excursions. Lectures aim to give overview of internal interactions in and external conditions for farming systems, as well as to present methods and concepts to be applied in independent student work, e.g. exercises. Excursions are used to connect theory to real systems and to include farmers and other farming system stakeholders. | |||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| This course aims to enable students to describe and understand agricultural systems as a result of natural conditions and human ressources in different socio-economic contexts. The course is the only course focusing on the farm as a system and complements courses in Crop Production which focus on field level, as well as courses dealing with land use on higher spatial scales. When students have completed this course they should be able to: Knowledge - Define important concepts related to farming system description - Demonstate overview of components of farming systems and their interactions - Identify different approaches to farming system research - Reflect about farmers' decision making and farm development strategies Skills - Apply various approaches to characterize and classify farming systems - Synthesize diverse types of information relevant to the evaluation of real farming systems - Explain environmental impacts of different farming systems Competences - Critically reflect on the sustainability of farming systems - Discuss the basis for policy and other initiatives relevant for reducing environmental impact of farming systems, including whole farm indicators and farm level certification schemes | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||||||
| Scientific papers and other material will be available on Campusnet. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||
| Jesper Rasmussen, jer@life.ku.dk, Department of Agricultural Sciences/Environment, Resources and Technology, Phone: 35333456 Vibeke Langer, vl@life.ku.dk, Department of Agricultural Sciences/Environment, Resources and Technology, Phone: 35332383 | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||||||
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