- From www.futurelearn.com
The Future of Farming: Exploring Climate Smart Agriculture
- 3 Sequences
- Introductive Level
- Starts on February 17, 2019
- Ends on March 3, 2019
Course details
Syllabus
Week 1:
- Climate change and greenhouse gases
- The interactions between climate change and agriculture
- Food security
- Climate smart agriculture; history, principles and examples
- Different views on the food production system
Week 2:
- The basics of milk production, cow husbandry, digestion and herd management
- Greenhouse gas emissions and the possibilities for reducing them, within dairy farming
- The importance of plants for our atmosphere
- Other forms of sustainable farming
- Possible options for reducing energy consumption
Week 3:
- The basics of wine production
- General, sustainable crop management practices
- Problems for the wine industry created by climate change
- Possibilities for adapting the wine industry to climate change
- Examples of how data can be used to to help make decisions in agriculture
- Critical views regarding climate smart agriculture
Prerequisite
Instructors
Marie Dittmann
I am an animal scientist, with a particular interest in nutrition, metabolism, and behaviour of animals, as well as agriculture.
Martin Lukac
I am an academic interested in effects of climate change on agriculture and forestry. I specialise in studying ecosystem productivity, carbon cycling and the link between diversity and stability.
Editor
The University of Reading was founded in 1892 during a period of rapid development in the city of Reading, England. This is one of the Red Brick University.
Platform
FutureLearn is a massive open online course (MOOC) learning platform founded in December 2012.
It is a company launched and wholly owned by The Open University in Milton Keynes, England. It is the first UK-led massive open online course learning platform, and as of March 2015 included 54 UK and international University partners and unlike similar platforms includes four non-university partners: the British Museum, the British Council, the British Library and the National Film and Television School.