931322 Technology in organic agriculture


Type
Lecture and seminar
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Organisation
Offered in
Wintersemester 2022/23
Languages of instruction
Englisch

Content

Content

The course focuses on technology particularly used in organic agriculture. Especially the following topics are covered:

Tillage
Fertilization
Weed management
Life-cycle assessment

The special features and differences of organic production compared with non-organic production are shown.

This course consists of three parts:

A) Lecture part:

The students deal with the documents in self-study. For each unit, each student must answer 4-8 questions and upload the corresponding answers to BOKULearn 48 hours before the start of the unit.

In the lecture unit, the questions are first discussed in small groups of 3-5 students, then presented by one group and discussed between all groups in the main session.

B) Presentation:

Three to five students (depending on course size) work together on a publication provided. The publication is presented in one of the last two units in a 5-minute presentation where a) the technology is explained and b) the content is summarized. In the second part of the presentation (max. 15 minutes) the group must answer the following questions and be ready for discussion:

What is the potential of technology in the context of organic farming?
What are the advantages of the technology for organic farming?
What are the risks of the technology?

A total of 20 minutes is available for the two presentations. The presentations must be submitted on BOKULearn 48 h before the respective unit as pptx. Every individual group member needs to present.

C) Abstracts:

Students must provide a one-page description of the technology mentioned in the article, and the three questions in point "B" must be answered in a written form. The document has to be uploaded whithin one week after presentation (part "B") on BOKULearn as PDF.

Previous knowledge expected

The prerequisite for participation in the course is a basic knowledge of agrophysics, fundamentals of agricultural engineering, agricultural process engineering and organic agriculture.
The ability to work scientifically is required.

Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Upon positive completion of the course, students will be able to:
• Name advantages and disadvantages of technology in organic farming and discuss them critically
• Name the technical challenges in organic farming
• Identify and assess particularities in the application of agricultural engineering in organic farming
• Understand, explain and use technical terms in English
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.