951324 International agriculture

Type
Lecture
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Neugschwandtner, Reinhard
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2025
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

The lecture provides a fundamental understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic basis of international agriculture and related food production systems. The emphasis is on an understanding environment- crop-management interactions underlying adapted cropping systems in different parts of the world.


1st Unit:
Organizational planning

Overview on international agriculture
=> „The yield gap“ – world agricultural production and population growth
=> Key agricultural regions for main food crops
=> Land ownership structure and agricultural production


2nd Unit:
World agro-environmental zones: Climate, soil and crop production
=>Main productivity constraints for world food production


3rd Unit:
Management improvement in international agriculture
=>The upcoming water crisis and water saving irrigation for dry regions
=>No tillage farming for soil fertility
=>Fertilization and the potential of organic agriculture


4th Unit:
FAO strategies for world agriculture
=>Food supply chains: Raising production, supply and income
=>Sustainable intensification: Resources efficiency to solve the yield gap


5th unit
Guest lectures: Examples of specialized farming systems
=>Irrigation management for small scale farmers in Africa
=>Agro-forestry systems in Africa
=>Mixed cropping-livestock systems in the Andean highlands


6th Unit:
Country example: Brasil – between international food power and agricultural poverty
Student presentations


7th Unit:
Country example: India – an example for “take off” from subsistence to world market?
Student presentations

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Previous knowledge expected


Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Students will have a general overview on international food production systems, become familiar withFAO strategies for international agriculture and get knowledge on current trends to sustainable management systems.
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You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.