Course volume in hours:17.00 hours

Coordinator(s):S. Menasseri, G. Pérès

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

Create a cohesive group, grasp the stakes of specialization, and share an agro-ecological culture.

Course description:

• General    Introduction
• Ice-Breaker: experimental site and farm visits
• Reminders on the agronomic concepts of agroecology and the different forms of agroecology
• Introduction to ecology – agroecology
• Agroecology stakes at the various nested scales: Talks and debates in the framework of major global issues (ex: climate change), taking into account the vision of French citizens (CESE), and the administrative supports at regional scale

Assessment pattern:

To be defined

Course volume in hours:24.00 hours

Coordinator(s):C. Darrot, PH. Boudes

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

• Deconstructing a unique normative vision of Agroecology
• Access  to  the  variety  of  socio-political  positions  related  to  Agroecology;  Knowledge  of  the  actors who carry these positions
• To know the stages of the political and historical construction of this notion
• First approach of other models at national scale

Course description:

Measures  to  be  discussed  as  CM,  participative  student  work,  presentations,  workshops,  reading  materials, and external speakers (in relation with specialty).

Four themes of 6 h:

1. Social  and  political  construction  of  the  concept  of  agroecology:  Emergence,  publicity,  controversy (political and social movements: syndicates, different Agroecological references and which brings them to the public field)
2. Variability of the positions of the countries of the European Union (and the countries of the world)  in  their  perception  of  agroecology  /2nd  pillar  (history  of  structures  on  the  one  hand,  public priorities on the other) at scale, Social and institutional movements in France (and even regions)
3. Links and interferences with the related concepts: sustainable agriculture, multifunctionality, ecosystem services, organic farming, permaculture, TCS - what alliances, what aid is being sought; Link between technique, social and political movement, from the point of view of the politician, the farmer, the adviser, the point of the scientists (different points of view).   
4. Agroecology in different latitudes: examples of models in different countries

Assessment pattern:

Presentation from personal and reading works (to be defined according to the balance of the evaluation models in the specialty.

Course volume in hours:13.00 hours

Coordinator(s):A. Carpentier

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

The aim is to present:

(i)  The economic issues of the agro-ecological transition for the  society (examination of the views of the different types of actors, discussion of the notion of locking),

(ii) An overview of the types of public intervention possible (how to intervene, which actors to target, how  to  interfere  at  what  pace,  presentation  of  innovation  mechanisms  induced,  economic  incentives:   advantages   and   limitations,   why   and   how   to   combine   different   intervention   instruments public),

(iii)  The  possible  objectives  and  possible  forms  of  a  policy  for  agro-ecological  transition  will  be  discussed here. 

Course description:

• Part 1. Agro-ecological transition: an economist's point of view
• Part 2. Reminders of public economy: economic stakes of public intervention
• Part 3. Strengths and weaknesses of the various policy instruments available to public decision-makers
• Part 4. Long-term logic: induce technological and institutional innovations through public intervention

Assessment pattern:

To be defined

Course volume in hours:21.00 hours

Coordinator(s):G. Pérès, M. Plantegenest

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

The main objectives of this UC is to improve the knowledge (theory, practice) on the biodiversity of agroecosystems. Based on lab and field approaches, this UC will assess the plant diversity (cultivated or natural) and the fauna diversity (invertebrates).

Course description:

• Discovery of weed and cultivated plants,
• Discovery of wildlife in agriculture,
• Discovery of plant pathology,
• Synthesis and restitution (1 day) (all teachers): ½ day laboratory lab, formatting observations. ½ day presentation / discussion.

Assessment pattern:

To be defined

Course volume in hours:25.00 hours

Coordinator(s):E. Le Cadre

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

During this course, students will complete their knowledge on soil functioning to embrace the concept of soil quality in its various meanings. At the end of the course, students will be able to discuss about the integration of soil quality into the actual discussions on the benefits provided by Ecosystems (and Agro ecosystems) to Humankind.  

Course description:

Course description:

1) Introduction

2) Analysis of soil functions and contributions to ecosystem services

2.1 Comparative analysis of the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) cycle and specific issues addressed by each element (fertilization & environment) 
a) Identification of key variables controlling bio-availability, mobility of elements
b) Applications to P and K fertilization

2.3 Roles of microbes in Ecosystem functioning

2.4 Soil organic matter turnover and water/air quality regulation services

3) Soil natural capita and monetary evaluation of soil ecosystems services

Tutorials on case studies dealing with impact analysis of agricultural practices on soil quality
- Tutorial 1 : perenne based agricultural systems (agroforestry and vineyard)
- Tutorial 2 : annual based agricultural systems

Practical exercises: soil  profile  analysis  to  understand  the  limitation  of  crop  performances  (root  development,  soil  compaction, ...)  

Documents resources

Course volume in hours:25.00 hours

Coordinator(s):O. Godinot

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

• Understand the functioning of biogeochemical flows at the landscape scale
• Know several tools and methods to study these flows and act on them

Course description:

• Introduction: the territory, a polysemic concept: study of various documents and articles on the organization of biophysical, social and economic territories,
• Methods and tools of landscape agronomy,
• Water and nutrient fluxes in watersheds,
• CNP coupling and dynamics in landscapes,
• Landscape   ecology   concepts,
• Territorial management, politics and economy,
• Group project: multiscale and multidisciplinary approach of the management of a biogeochemical flow in a defined landscape.

Assessment pattern:

Evaluation of the group oral restitution

Course volume in hours:7.00 hours

Coordinator(s):Y. Le Cozler

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

• Discover and/or update knowledge in animal science, livestock farming, the production chains
• Understand the interaction between animal, farmers, LFS and chains
• Introducing Precision Livestock Farming (PLF)
• Identity the main components on animal production chain concerning by PLF concepts and value creation

Course description:

- What is Livestock farming systems?  

- Basics principles of farm animal physiology, health and behavior:

• How feed is used by animal organism and what are animal requirements?
• How to favor animal health and welfare?
• Which housing conditions and evaluation of environmental impacts?
• Observe and analyze animal production and response to environment : performances, productivity health and behavior indicators

- Farmer’s objectives and jobs:   

• What are the principle stake evolutions for livestock farming and for farmers’ job?
• How can we define “work” for farmers?
• Can PLF be a part of the solutions?

- Animal production chains and their concerns:

• Which stakeholders and their concerns in an animal production chain?
• What are the chain value creation? What are the different strategies applied to maintain diversity along the chain?
• How to analyze one animal production chain?
• How to evaluate the impact of animal production chain?

- General and global discussion:  (To go further: General course on Precision Livestock) 

Course volume in hours:23.00 hours

Coordinator(s):M. Plantegenest

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This UC aims at providing concepts, theory and methods to help understanding and studying the role of biodiversity in the functioning of agroecosystems at the functional scale of interaction networks and at various spatial scales from the field to the landscape. 

Course description:

• Ecological bases of agroecology
• Biodiversity, stability, regulation
• Molecular tools for studying biodiversity
• Building and analyzing interaction networks
• Agroecology and landscape ecology
• Soil and biodiversity
• Role and importance of microbial communities in agroecology 

Assessment pattern:

To be defined

Course volume in hours:28.00 hours

Coordinator(s):O. Godinot, C. Darrot

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

• Master the systems approach of farming systems
• Know how to use indicators in agriculture
• Know several sustainability evaluation methods
• Know how to mobilize a set of indicators to answer a question in a farm 

Course description:

• Systems approach of farming systems and multicriteria Assessment Methods
• Analysis of several sustainability assessment methods
• Preparation of the visit : Survey methods, survey guide, indicator choice
• Farm visit with teachers
• Debriefing and analysis of the visit
• Farm visit in autonomy by each group
• Analysis of the visit, choice and calculation of indicators, poster preparation
• Group poster presentation

Assessment pattern:

Oral presentation of sustainability assessment method, evaluation of posters and oral presentation

Course volume in hours:26.00 hours

Coordinator(s):J. Flament

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

The objectives of this course are to deepen students' knowledge of forage systems management, with a particular focus on grassland and grazing management. The aim is to help students to understand the need in decision tool development taking into account grazing specificities (needs to foresee, anticipate, decide, and analyze). 

Course description:

Lectures:

• Reasoning the evolution of the forage system
• Management of grazing for dairy cows: ensuring the regularity of the quantitative supply of quality grazing and ensuring the establishment of quality stocks for the winter period (at the scale of the grazing season and the herd-tools)
• Grassland farming: interest of grassland in crop system (crop rotations)
• Ecosystemic services of grassland
• Forages quality

Visit: grass-based dairy farms.

Assessment pattern:

Oral presentation of visits

Course volume in hours:27.00 hours

Coordinator(s):G. Pérès, A. Jaffrezic

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This course will be organized in two stages: based on concrete cases (intervention of a professional, combination of CM and TD), this stage will decline a set of agronomic levers allowing the agro-ecological management of fertility; the second step, through the implementation of an integrator tool, will enable us to evaluate the implementation of these levers.

The selected examples will cover a wide range of agro-pedo-climatic contexts, covering soils with different properties and observed in contrasting climates, thus taking into account the complexity of the implementation of different agroecological management methods. 

Course description:

Step 1: agro-ecological levers

• Concrete case of an operation in agroecology: Intervention of a farmer,
• Impact of agro-ecological management methods on the chemical properties of soil (P, C, N),
• Restoration of the biodiversity of the soil and its functions through the application of agro-ecological management methods,
• Modification of the bio-physical properties of the soil (MO, porosity, stability) when implementing agro-ecological management methods,
• Consequences of the implementation of agro-ecological management methods on the services of supply (plant production) and regulation (flow and water quality, emission of GES).

Step 2: Implementation

Evaluation by multicriteria analysis (physical, chemical and biological) of the implementation of agro-ecological management methods. This exercise will be based on concrete cases, either by using data previously acquired in different agrosystems, or by using data acquired during field trips. GP, SM, AJ

Field trip

The field trip will be the opportunity to either (i) combine a visit to a farm using an agro-ecological management method and measures of certain parameters, or (ii) visit two types of farms implementing modes different agro-ecological management systems.

Assessment pattern:

To be defined

Course volume in hours:24.00 hours

Coordinator(s):M. Plantegenest

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This UC aims at providing a large overview of the lever that can be used to design an agroecological plant protection strategy against animal pests, diseases and weeds. It will present how those levers can be combined to produce a relevant agroecological system.

Course description:

• Agroecological management of airborne and soilborne plant diseases,
• Agroecological management of animal pests,
• Agroecological management of weeds,
• Impact of agricultural practices on the pest and disease profile,
• Diagnostic of the evolution of agroecological systems at field scale,
• Impact of landscape shape on pest regulation.

Assessment pattern:

Oral presentation

Course volume in hours:23.00 hours

Coordinator(s):A. Laperche, E. Le Cadre

Language of instruction:French

Purpose of the course:

Students should be able to consider the contribution of plant breeding to agroecological systems. This contribution relies both on the remobilization of concepts and knowledge already applied in breeding, but also integrate the cutting edges concepts dealing with plant functioning in complex environments.

Course description:

A set of lectures will draw an overview of the points presented in the « Objectives » parts; conferences/practical exercises will illustrate those approaches.  

1. Contextualization  and main issues of Agroecology addressed to plant breeding,
2. Above-ground interactions (biotic and abiotic) for plant breeding,
3. Below-ground interactions and their interest for plant breeding,
4. How to breed wheat for its ability to be grown in mixture with pea?
5. Interactions within the spermosphere and their implications for seeds improvement and production,
6. Management of intra and inter-specific diversity within plant breeding programs for agroecological systems,
7. Participatory  breeding: an example of utilization of agroecological concepts,

Global discussion and conclusions.
 

Assessment pattern:

Oral presentation

Course volume in hours:21.00 hours

Coordinator(s):E. Le Cadre, A. Jaffrézic

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This course will lay the theoretical backgrounds in order to  conceptualize  in  diverse  situations  the  relationships  between  animals  and  plants  with  particular  emphasis on soils.

Course description:

A) General introduction to the module

B) Theoretical backgrounds

1. Above and below ground diversity : a carbon flow story
2. Herbivore-mediated linkages between above and below ground communities  Physical and chemical modifications of soils (water and O2 ) by grazing and related consequences on chemical speciation and biology), nutrient loadings and soil  stability
3. Animal, herd and grassland management to optimize grass utilization in grass-based system.

C) Conceptualization

1. The conceptualization step in modelling: structural and dynamic representation of a problem in box and arrow
2. Practical exercise (autonomy) to collect different approach to conceptualize a problem, article readings
3. Practical exercise (autonomy) to apply (and compare) the different approach on selected videos proposed by teachers, 

Assessment pattern:

Final examination on table (or during student restitution)

Course volume in hours:19.00 hours

Coordinator(s):E. Le Cadre, A.-L. Jacquot

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

In this course, students will interview farmers who have a particular questioning about agroecology transition. As an issue of the visit, the students will  propose  strategies  taking  into  account  the  objectives  of  the  farmers  and  the  agroecological  processes detailed previously in this module. To help students in this activity, methodology dealing with consultancy will be used. 

Course description:

A) Conceptualization of the pasture agrosystem  Introductive lecture on model conceptualization in a grass based farm

B) Utilization of the conceptual model and feedback tutored by lecturers
Each forcing variable will be introduced by an introductive conference completed with a case studies to decipher the mainstream of adaptations of the conceptual model. A list of text books and articles will be provided to complete some points of the conference and guide students

1. Climatic change (attenuation and adaptation), Impacts of climatic changes on grassland ecosystems
2. Scarcity of resources (phosphorus, soil, water), Scarcity of resources in a changing world

^{_{*Extra thematic questions can be addressed in function of group size}}

C) Report redaction and oral presentation

Assessment pattern:

Report

Course volume in hours:24.00 hours

Coordinator(s):E. Le Cadre, A.-L. Jacquot

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

In this course, students will interview farmers who have a particular questioning about agroecology transition. As an issue of the visit, the students will propose strategies taking into account the objectives of the farmers and the agroecological processes detailed previously in this module. To help students in this activity, methodology dealing with consultancy will be used.

Course description:

Introduction to consultancy: The introduction of the module will be focused on farming consultancy (the main issues for consultancy, presentation of the different way to advise farmers, different aspects of being farm consultants...) : discussion with consultants on their daily job aspects)

Methods developed to conceptualize the farmer strategies: theory and practise  : the student will also prepare an interview be presented to the students in order to prepare a farm survey - On site evaluation : the students will the interview of the farmers, in order to collect any information needed to realize the conceptual functioning of this farm Back to the campus, the student will prepare an oral presentation.

Bibliography:

Report

Course volume in hours:12.00 hours

Coordinator(s):F. Hamelin, M. Plantegenest

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

The objective is to acquire skills in generalized linear models and more generally in multi-varied analyzes.

Course volume in hours:18.00 hours

Coordinator(s):C. Walter

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This course focuses on the proper use of GIS techniques within projects where geo-information plays an  important  role.  Students  will  develop  practical  skills  for  analysing,  visualising  and  synthesising  spatial data, and the principles for applying these skills to real-world issues.

Course description:

The  course  will  be  based  solely  on  practical  teaching  and  supposes  prerequisites  on  general  concepts  on  spatial  analysis  and  GIS.  Teaching  intends  first  to  make  students  familiar  with  Geographical  information  Systems  (GIS)  techniques  and  progressively,  through  problem  solving  approaches, to make them able to plan and implement spatial analysis tools to real-world problems linked to agroecology.

Day 1. Introduction to GIS techniques

• Data organization in GIS
• Data representation and mapping
• Spatial analysis tools

Day 2. Interpolation and spatial modelling: spatial analysis of soil biodiversity data

• Geostatistical analysis of punctual data of soil biodiversity
• Regression analysis of soil biodiversity variation in space and spatial extrapolation

Day 3. Data combination and decision support: land suitability for agricultural production

• Combining spatial data
• Spatial Multiple Criteria Evaluation 

Assessment pattern:

Evaluation is based on the exercise resolved in day 3.

Course volume in hours:20.00 hours

Coordinator(s):M. Plantegenest

Language of instruction:English

Purpose of the course:

This course aims at evidencing, based on several examples drawn from various fields, the interest of modelling for the analysis of agroecological problems. Students will learn how translating an agroecological question into a mathematical model and the various ways that can be applied to study it. An analysis of literature will be carried out to present the diversity of approaches and questions that can be addressed by modelling.

Course description:

• Model construction
• Qualitative analysis of dynamical models
• Dynamics of organic matter
• Understanding and presenting a scientific article dealing with modelling in agroecology

Assessment pattern:

Analysis of scientific article will be orally presented by small groups (2-3 students). This will the basis for student evaluation. 

Course volume in hours:45.00 hours

Coordinator(s):S. Menasseri, G. Pérès

Language of instruction:French

Language of instruction:French

Language of instruction:French

Language of instruction:French

Language of instruction:French