Semester 3: All students enrol at ISARA, Lyon, France

Goal: Learn project management and expand on application of agroecological science in real-world situations. The students will learn to put together theoretical knowledge and past experiences to work in farming and food systems. Courses at ISARA, France will start with a field trip to a selected region in France.

Students will visit different stakeholders to analyse specific question on landscape and agricultural management such as constraints and potentials of the prevailing cropping and livestock production systems, or landscape and biodiversity management systems.

In the second module, students will gain applied knowledge on different agroecological cropping practices such as conservation tillage, direct seeding, intercropping, cover crops, and biological control.

The third module deals with the world ecosystems and their prevailing agricultural systems, but also with influencing factors such as economy, politics, land tenure or social issues. Students will learn which resource conservation techniques are feasible in the different agroecosystems, but also what role indigenous knowledge of farmers plays in traditional and modern agriculture.

The fourth module deals with the management of agroecosystems and implication from policies and nature conservation. Topics dealt with are for example agri-environmental measures, international conventions impacting agriculture, protected areas and agriculture, and ecological corridors in agricultural landscapes. The fifth module is a project management.

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