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| Semester | spring semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Every spring sem. |
| Lecturers | Paul Mäder (paul.maeder@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Deepening knowledge in farming systems is essential because agriculture is one major driver for environmental pressures through land use change and the use of inputs in form of energy, fertilizers and pesticides. In the last decade there is a strong growth of certified organic farming at the National and International scale. The European Commission aims at increasing Organic farming in Europe to 25% until 2030, as it is considered as one promising option to solve the current problems of intensive agriculture encountering loss of soil fertility, decrease of biodiversity, the excessive use of natural resources and climate change. The lecture is organised as a lecture series (“Ringvorlesung”), where experts in their respective disciplines in soil, plant and animal sciences and socioeconomics will outline the principles and practises of organic agriculture, amended by case studies. In a group exercise, the students will develop their own thoughts on future developments and resilience aspects of organic farming in one topic presented in the lectures, and will display their outcomes as either poster or Power point. On a half- day excursion the theoretical material is illustrated on a long-term system comparison experiment and a practical farm in the valley of Leimen. Lecture 1, 2: Introduction (Paul Mäder, Bernadette Oehen) Lecture 3, 4: Plant production (Knut Schmidtke, Else Bünemann, Lucius Tamm, Claudia Daniel) Lecture 5 : Agro-Biodiversity (Sibylle Stöckli, Pierre Hohmann) Lecture 6: Animal husbandry (Florian Leiber) Lecture 7: Food (Bernadette Oehen, Maike Nesper) Lecture 8: Socioeconomics (Matthias Stolze, Laura Armengot) Lecture 9: Sustainability assessment (Christian Schader) Lecture 10: Resilience and future development of organic farming (Paul Mäder, Bernadette Oehen) Lecture 11: Excursion to the DOK trial in Therwil BL (Paul Mäder, Bernadette Oehen) |
| Learning objectives | The students are familiar with the principles and practices of organic farming. They can evaluate the strength and weeks of the farming systems and know the specific challenges in the areas of soil management, plant production and animal husbandry. The students are capable to judge critically the solutions of organic agriculture in view of a sustainable production. |
| Comments | This lecture series will take place online on Zoom. Please find the link on ADAM (you will find it in the PDF program). The excursion on 28 May and written exam on 4 June require physical attendance. Contact: Dr. Paul Mäder (Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL) https://www.fibl.org/en/locations/switzerland.html www.fibl.org/en/about-us/team/maeder-paul-en.html Lecturers: Experts of the respective disciplines at FiBL, actively involved in national and European research with a strong link to practical farmers, lecturing at ETH with a similar course. |
| Weblink | adam.unibas.ch |
| Admission requirements | Students of the MSD without background in natural sciences, and who have chosen the focus area in social sciences or in economics must have completed the 'Complementary Knowledge in Natural Sciences' module (or at least earned 8 CP). Credit points are to be transferred to the FASR module (with learning agreement). |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Friday | 12.15-14.00 | - Online Präsenz - |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 05.03.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 12.03.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 19.03.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 26.03.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 09.04.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 16.04.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 23.04.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 30.04.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 07.05.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 21.05.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | online on Zoom, link on ADAM, -- |
| Friday 28.05.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | excursion to Therwil, BL, -- |
| Friday 04.06.2021 | 12.15-14.00 | Bernoullianum, Grosser Hörsaal 148 |
| Modules |
Courses: Master's Studies Ecology (Master's Studies: Ecology) Courses: Master's Studies Plant Science (Master's Studies: Plant Science) Doctorate Botany: Recommendations (PhD subject: Botany) Module: Core Competences in Natural Sciences (Master's Studies: Sustainable Development) Module: Geography and Climatology (Master's Studies: Geosciences) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | 1. Exercise as group work on future development of organic agriculture and resilience aspects, focussing on one subject; presentation of this group work in form of a poster (in case of lectures with physical presence), or as Power point (in case of live streaming via Zoom) 2. Written exam on Friday, June 4th, Bernoullianum, Grosser Hörsaal 148 Preconditions for the exam: presentation of group work |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration, dereg: cancel course registration |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Science, studiendekanat-philnat@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Integrative Biologie |