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Sustainable Ag Minor Graduate Courses
Required Graduate Courses
Core Courses (Graduate & PhD Students)
SAGR 8010. Colloquium in Sustainable Agriculture. (2 cr) Forum for University faculty and students, and representatives of the farming community, including farmers, grassroots organizations, agricultural businesses, and representatives of state agencies, to engage in discussions on topics related to sustainability of food production.
SAGR 8020. Field Experience in Sustainable Agriculture. (1-4 cr) Three to fourteen-week internship with producers or organizations working with sustainable agriculture issues. Students analyze these issues in a final written project and oral seminar. Internship information is here.
Core Course (Required for PhD Students / Optional for Graduate Students)
AGRO/ENT 5321. Ecology of Agricultural Systems. (3 cr) Agroecology as the scientific investigation of agricultural systems. Formal methodologies of systems inquiry are developed and applied to problems in agricultural ecosystems.
Elective Graduate Courses
AGET 5203. Environmental Impacts of Food Production. (3.0 cr) Exploration of the environmental changes resulting from food production. Topics include crop production intensity, animal raising options, food processing waste alternatives, and pest control.
AGET 5212. Safety and Health Issues in Agricultural Work Environments. (2.0 cr) Examine emerging agricultural occupational safety and health issues including injury, work-related disease, pesticide exposure, pollution, biotechnology, and social implications of changing demographics and technologies.
AGRO 4201. Agro-ecosystems and Crop Production. (3.0 cr) Basic concepts in agro-ecosystems: organization, development, and function of field crop communities in contrast to natural ecosystems. Means of improving designed and managed systems for the benefit of humankind while minimizing impact on the ecosystem.
AGRO 4605. Management Strategies for Crop Production. (4.0 cr) Crop management situations/needs in various climate zones, soil types, from seed selection to crop storage. Focuses on cropping systems involving corn, soybeans, small grains, and forages. Emphasizes long-term productivity, profitability, and sustainability. Lecture, discussion, problem sets, laboratory.
AGRO 5321. Ecology of Agricultural Systems. (3.0 cr) Agroecology as the scientific investigation of agricultural systems. Formal methodologies of systems inquiry are developed and applied to problems in agricultural ecosystems (cross listed with ENT 5321)
AGRO 5999. Agroecosystems Analysis (Summer Field Course) (3 cr) This is a field-based "immersion" course that introduces students to the concept of the agroecosystem and their analysis with an underlying emphasis on sustainability. Students visit a number of farms of various types in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, as well as other historic and cultural sites of significance to this region. There is considerable time for discussions with farmers and students prepare oral and written analyses based on their observations and conclusions.
APEC 4103. World Food Problems. (3.0 cr) A multi-disciplinary look at problems and possible solutions affecting food production, storage, and utilization in developing countries. Presentation and discussions introduce conflicting views on population, technology, and ethical and cultural values of people in various parts of the world. (Cross-listed with AGRO 4103).
APEC 5651. Economics of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy. (3.0 cr) Economic analyses, including project evaluation of current natural resource/environmental issues. Emphasizes intertemporal use of natural resources, natural resource scarcity/adequacy, environmental quality, and mechanisms for pollution control and their implications for public policy.
APEC 5711. U.S. Agricultural and Environmental Policy. (3.0 cr) U.S. agricultural policy in an open world economy; role of private markets and government in regulating supply and demand; income vs. price support, supply controls, environmental constraints, and export protectionism; functioning of markets; roles of public interest groups and future of American agricultural policy.
APEC 5721. World Agriculture: Problems, Policies, and Sustainability. (3.0 cr) Comparative agricultural systems and policies, issues of development and protection, resource use and sustainability in major production regions, international policy conflicts, international organizations and assistance, technological change, production and consumption balances.
BAE 5513. Watershed Engineering. (3.0 cr) Application of engineering principles to managing surface runoff from agricultural, range, and urban watersheds. Design of facilities and selection of land use practices for controlling surface runoff to mitigate problems of flooding and degradation of surface-water quality.
EEB 5122. Plant Interactions with Animals and Microbes. (4.0 cr) Cross-listed with Plant Biology and Plant Pathology Ecological and environmental implications of mutualistic and antagonistic interactions between plants, animals and microbes at organismal, population, and community levels.
ENT 5211. Insect Pest Management. (3.0 cr) Prevention or suppression of injurious insects by integrating multiple control tactics, e.g., chemical, biological, cultural. Strategies to optimize the dynamic integration of control methodologies in context of their economic, environmental, and social consequences.
ENT 5341. Biological Control of Insects and Weeds. (3.0-4.0 cr) Biological control of arthropod pests and weeds. Analysis of relevant ecological theory and case studies; biological control agents. Lab includes natural enemy identification, short experiments, and computer exercises.
FR 5104. Forest Ecology. (4.0 cr) Form/function of forests as ecological systems. Characteristics/dynamics of species, populations, communities, landscapes, and ecosystem processes. Examples applying ecology to forest management. Weekly discussions on research topics, exercises, current issues in forest resource management. Required weekend field trip.
FR 5142. Tropical Forest Ecology. (3.0 cr) Ecological principles related to form, function, and development of wet/dry tropical forests at organismal, community, and ecosystem scales. Ecophysiology, succession, productivity, biodiversity, sustainability, agroforestry, social forestry, and management alternatives. Natural distribution of forest types. Causes, consequences, and extent of deforestation. (Cross-listed with NRES 5142).
FR 5251. Role of Renewable Natural Resources in Developing Countries. (1.0 Cr) International perspectives on important resource issues including integration of natural resource, social, and economic considerations. Overviews of issues and case studies.
FW 5455. Sustainable Aquaculture. (3.0 cr) Role of aquaculture in fisheries management, biodiversity rehabilitation, and food production around the world. Implications for the sustainability of human-environment interactions in different societies. Principles of fish husbandry.
FW 8452. Conservation Biology. (3.0 cr.) Seminar examining population- to system-level biological issues (genetics; demographic processes; community, ecosystem, and landscape scale interaction; restoration ecology; ex situ strategies for restoration and recovery) and societal issues (social, economic, cultural perspectives; sustainable development strategies; roles of institutions; international and U.S. policies).
FW 8465. Fish Habitats and Restoration. (3.0 cr) Mechanisms underlying physiology/behavior that shape fish community structure in specific north temperate habitats. Techniques and planning procedures for restoring lakes/streams.
GEOG 5441. Quaternary Landscape Evolution. (3.0 cr) Roles of climate change, geomorphic history, vegetation change, and soil development in the evolution of landscape patterns during the Quaternary Period, with emphasis on North America.
GEOG 5565. Geographical Analysis of Environmental Systems and Global Change. (3.0 cr) Applications of geographic information systems and other spatial analysis tools to the analysis of environmental systems patterns, dynamics, and interactions. Focus on global to landscape databases developed to analyze atmospheric, hydrospheric, geomorphic, pedologic, biologic, and human land use systems.
GEOG 8335. Agrarian Change and Rural Development. (3.0 cr) Contours of agricultural and rural development in the Third World; theories of agrarian transformation and rural development; role of agriculture in economic development; peasant economy; the nature and role of state intervention in rural sector.
HORT 4072. Growing Plants Organically: What It Means To Be Green. (3.0 cr) Science and ethics of organic cultivation. What is meant by "green" from a legal, scientific, and ethical perspective? Explore original literature on an organic practice, prepare a written report, and lead a class discussion.
HORT 5031. Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Production Systems. (4.0 cr) Integrated management of horticultural food production systems with an ecological perspective. Evolution, taxonomy, environmental control of plant growth and development, site selection. Intensive use of writing, decision cases, discussion.
HORT 5032. Sustainable Commercial Vegetable Production Systems. (3.0 cr) Principles of commercial vegetable production. Integrated management of vegetable cropping systems. Site selection/environment, seed/stand establishment, cultural management practices, commodity use and handling from harvest to market. Perspectives on types of vegetable cultivars. Origin, historical significance/improvement through breeding, nutrition/medicinal aspects, physiological/environmental control of development.
HORT 5071. Restoration and Reclamation Ecology. (3.0 cr) Ecological and physiological concepts as a basis for revegetation of grasslands, wetlands, forests, and other landscapes. Plant selection, stand establishment, evaluating revegetation success. State and federal programs that administer restoration and reclamation programs. Field trips within Minnesota.
HORT 8023. Evolution of Crop Plants. (2.0 cr) Origin, distribution, and evolution of cultivated plants; implication of the effects of evolutionary processes on crop breeding for needs of people today.
LA 5202. Landscape Ecology. (3.0 cr) Relationships among spatial patterns, temporal patterns, and ecological processes in the landscape. Topics include factors affecting landscape pattern, measurement of landscape pattern, material transport through landscapes, effects of landscape pattern on population dynamics, and landscape planning.
MGMT 5019. Business, Natural Environment, and Global Economy. (2.0 cr) Resource deployment policies that affect the natural environment. Sustainability. Local/global environmental threats, how government policies address these issues. Business strategies/practices that produce "win-win" outcomes.
NRES 4195. Problem Solving in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies. (4.0) Applying tools/skills in policy, planning, and managerial situations. Working with 'real world' client to produce publishable technical report.
NRES 5021. Plant Resource Management and the Environment. (3.0 cr) World vegetation management practices, extent, and implications. Emphasis on forest management, agriculture, and agroforestry; historical, current, and prospective practices; environmental and societal implications.
NRES 5061. Water Quality: Management of a Natural Resource. (3.0 cr) Biophysical water quality in the context of today's management concerns. Active learning approaches, and global and ecological perspectives toward understanding the management of surface and groundwater resources.
NRES 5202. Environmental Leadership and Ethics. (3.0 cr) Study of philosophy, art, science, and practice of leadership and its relationship to management and environmental ethics. Leadership models, traits, behaviors, style, and group process. Development of personal leadership philosophy.
NRES 5480. Special Topics: Population, Environment and Sustainability. (3.0 cr) This course examines contemporary debates over the relationships among population growth, environmental change and development. Covers current trends in population and theories about population change, relating contemporary debates to historical views of population; assessing alternative perspectives relating population dynamics to social and environmental change; and responses to the challenges of population, environment, and development as represented in the debate over 'sustainability'.
NRES 5482. Biosafety Science and Policy. (3.0 cr) Scientific/policy approaches to governing equitable/safe use of new biological technologies such as genetic engineering and its products (e.g., growth-enhanced, transgenic fish), hazardous materials, and wastewater treatment.
NRES 5703. Agroforestry: Role in Watershed Management. (2.0 cr) Agroforestry practices, what they are, their intended purpose, and production and watershed protection benefits derived from such practices. Role of agroforestry in sustainable development. Agroforestry examples/case studies presented from North America and developing countries.
PA 5721. Energy and Environmental Policy. (3.0 cr) Impact of energy production and consumption choices on environmental quality, sustainable development, and other economic and social goals. Emphasis on public policy choices for both energy and the environment and the linkages between them.
PLPA 5204. Plant Disease Management. (3.0 cr) Principles of crop/pathogen biology, epidemiology, crop ecology, crop management practices that influence occurrence of plant disease. Interaction of crop management practices with plant disease. Strategies for controlling plant disease through management practices illustrated by examples from agronomic, horticultural, forest crops.
POL 5441. Environmental Policy. (3.0 cr) How American political system deals with environmental issues. How third world countries deal with environmental protection/economic growth. How international community deals with global environmental problems.
SOC 4305. Society and the Environment: A Growing Conflict. (3.0 cr) Societal causes and cures of ecological problems such as global warming, species extinction, and resource exhaustion.
SOIL 4021. Environmental Impact Statements. (3.0 cr) Roles of governmental agencies, consultants, and private citizens in the EIS process. Students will read EIS, EAW and analyze their content and scope, and prepare an EAW according to Minnesota EQB guidelines and an EIS on a local project.
SOIL 4511. Field Study of Soils. (2.0 cr) Learn to write soil profile descriptions in the field. Class requires hands-on experience to determine soil texture, color, and horizon designations in the field.
SOIL 5515. Soil Genesis and Landscape Relations. (3.0 cr) Basic soil morphology and soil profile descriptions; pedogenic processes and models of soil development; soil geomorphology, hydrology, and hill slope processes; digital spatial analysis; soil classification; soil surveys and land use; soil geography.
SOIL 5611. Soil Biology and Fertility. (3.0 cr) Soil microbial populations and biodiversity. Soil microorganisms. Biogeochemical cycles. Macro and micronutrient fertilization, and element function in plants and microbes. Composts, sludge and manures in fertilization. Plant microbe associations: nitrogen fixation, mycorrhizal fungi, and biological control of root pathogens. Pollution and bioremediation.
