Agroecology — Sustainable Agriculture at Penn State
Agroecology Course Descriptions
AGECO 121, Plant Stress: It's Not Easy Being Green, is a General Education GN Course. This course is accessible to non-science majors and provides general science background as well as specific information about plant biology. The aim of this course is to provide students with an appreciation of the challenges faced by plants and the dynamic ways that plants respond to these hazards.
AGECO 122, Atmospheric Environment: Growing in the Wind, is for first-year students who are interested in learning about the dynamic effects of weather on ecosystems and habitation of the Earth. It is about how processes at the ground surface and in the air govern weather conditions on Earth. Growing in the Wind focuses on five major weather elements: energy, temperature, moisture, pressure, and wind and how these factors govern ecosystems and habitation of Earth. Emphasis is also given to human impacts on weather and climate. The lectures (2, one-hour lectures each week) are organized around the central theme that the unequal distribution of incoming solar energy (both spatially and temporally) produces temperature and pressure contrast at the Earth’s surface and in the atmosphere that in turn cause storms and control the weather and climate. Computer lab exercises (1, two-hour lab each week) will reinforce concepts learned in lecture. The course will be offered each fall semester.
AGECO 134 / R SOC 134, Sustainable Agriculture Science & Policy. This general studies course will teach students about the science, technology, economics, and policies of our food production systems; and the science and policy that potentially could be applied to manage agroecosystems.
AGECO 197, Special Topics.
AGECO 201, Introductory Agroecology, will be taken during the students third semester. This course is designed to lay the groundwork for the major and serve to acquaint students with the ecological underpinnings of conventional production agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and organic agriculture. It will introduce the student to basic ecological concepts, systems thinking, creative thinking and the interrelation of the factors involved in crop production. This course will be delivered by a faculty representing the Departments of Entomology and Crop and Soil Sciences, with guest lecturers from Plant Pathology and Horticulture. The students will participate in field trips, in-class labs, and computer simulations that will illustrate concepts of ecology within agricultural systems.
AGECO 295, Agroecology Internship was developed, at the request of employers, to provide agroecology graduates with field experience. They felt that production agriculture is a unique industry and centers around field activities. There are field activities, tools and technologies used by the industries to meet the needs of their clientele which graduates should be familiar with. Many of these are not covered in traditional classes. This internship will be developed to provide agroecology students with hands-on field experience.
AGECO 418, Nutrient Management in Agricultural Systems. Nutrient Management in Agricultural Systems is a senior level course that applies the fundamentals of animal and plant, sciences to the concept of a nation-wide food animal system. The regional concentration and consolidation of animal production enterprises has resulted in important economic savings for consumers. But these changes have also had some detrimental impacts on the environment. For example, some nutrients such as calcium and phosphorus and certain trace elements are mined, while others such as nitrogen and potassium are deiived from crop production systems. In all cases, the nutrients are transported to areas of livestock concentration. A small portion of the nutrients leave the farm in the form of animal products, while 60 to 70% of the nutrients are excreted and applied to nearby crop land. The environmental implications of the net influx of these nutrients to livestock producing communities have only recently been recognized. These concepts will provide the background around which regulations are written and sound nutrient management strategies are developed and implemented.
AGECO 461, Integrated Crop Management is the capstone course which integrates the AGECO 201 and other courses taken from Agronomy, Economics, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Entomology, Horticulture and Plant Pathology. Prior to this the students have been continually integrating information within the expert system shell. This course will require students to move outside the "shell" and use their abilities, developed in the preceding Agroecology courses, to integrate and solve problems related to real world situations. The course will be developed around the decision based case studies method. These are case studies which are developed around actual situations where individuals have make decisions. A detailed set of materials, relating to the situation and the individuals involved, are provided students. From this they suggest an action plan or solution. Students will work on cases individually and in teams to develop written and oral reports. Prerequisite: ENT 457; SOILS 101.
AGESS 490, Agroecology Colloquium will provide the opportunity for agroecology students to discuss current topics related to the major. Students will be expected to participate in discussions and also lead discussions in an effort to increase their communication skills.
AGECO 495, Agroecology Internship is a traditional internship designed to provide agroecology students a work experience in either private industry or other agriculturally related institutions.
AGECO 496, Independent Studies.
AGECO 497, Special Topics.
AGECO 499, Foreign Studies.