Undergraduate Course: Sustainable Agri-food Systems: Challenges and Solutions (VETS10024)
Course Outline
| School | Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course brings together an integrated range of key agricultural science insights exploring the contributions and interventions necessary to build towards sustainable food systems. Students will be introduced to social, economic and political components of global agri-systems and key methods of assessment of agri-systems impact. |
| Course description |
This course will give students an understanding of:
- Introduction to key institutions and concepts relevant to agrifood systems;
- The main types of agri-food systems globally, including subsistence, landless, smallholder and both intensive and extensive commercial systems;
- Historical perspectives - how these systems have evolved, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they might be improved;
- Introduction to food supply chains;
- Multiple impacts of agri-food systems and intersection with SDGs;
- Agro-Ecology Principles;
- Environmental economics / cost-benefit analysis;
- Introduction to assessment framework: LCAs MCAs, EIA, HRIAs.
- The role of science, technology and innovation in global agri-food systems; new technologies / precision farming.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe the main types of agri-food systems and food supply chains globally.
- Analyse their strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.
- Critically evaluate the potential intersections between global agri-systems and the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Identify and discuss the wider socio-political contexts within which food systems operate.
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Reading List
- Sustainable Food Systems: Building a New Paradigm (Earthscan Food and Agriculture) 31 May 2015 by Terry Marsden and Adrian Morley
Recommended reading:
- The Transformation of Agri-Food Systems: Globalization, Supply Chains and Smallholder Farmers, 23 May 2012, by Ellen B. McCullough and Prabhu Pingali
- Contested Sustainability Discourses in the Agrifood System (Earthscan Food and Agriculture) 27 Jun 2018 by Douglas H. Constance and Jason T. Konefal.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alfy Gathorne-Hardy
Tel: (0131 6)50 5412
Email: a.gathorne-hardy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Gordon Littlejohn
Tel:
Email: Gordon.Littlejohn@ed.ac.uk |
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