AT 301 - Sustainable Farm Businesses

1.Explain the impact of economic, environmental, and social changes on agricultural business.

2.Evaluate the contribution of technology adoption to the optimization of economic, environmental, and social goals of agricultural enterprises.

3.Discuss challenges related to social trust of precision agriculture and agri-food technologies and design strategies to address these challenges.

4.Describe and assess theorized and observed effects of input changes on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of a farm operation.

5.Describe and assess the theorized and observed effects of genomic technologies on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of a farm operation.

6.Explain how weather monitoring and modelling contributes to environmental and economic metrics and how this supports decision-making in crops and livestock operations.

7.Identify and evaluate instances in agri-food value chains where implementation of technology may support social, environmental, and economic sustainability goals.

8.Use case studies to assess the sustainability of a farm/agricultural operation and recommend optimization strategies.

Required Resource Materials:
None

Optional Resource Materials:
Reference Text

Sage, C. (2012). Environment and food. Routledge.

This resource is available as an e-book on the library website.

The remainder of the course resources and references are made available on Desire to Learn (D2L).

Conduct of Course:
This course consists of lectures and labs. The scheduled lecture and lab time consists of lectures, guest speakers, group activities, field trip(s) and/or time to for group work.

In this course, students participate in a group project involving engagement with external stakeholders to collect information. While there is ample in-class time provided to ensure that students have the flexibility to effectively engage in this experiential learning project, students are also expected to complete the remaining needed tasks for their group projects outside of class time.

Students are expected to complete other course assignments outside of class time.

Attendance is taken for each lecture and lab and contributes to the students’ participation mark.

The instructor holds open office hours. Students can make appointments to speak with the instructor outside of office hours, if needed. If emailing the instructor to request support related to the course, responses can be expected within 48 hours. Please plan accordingly.

Classroom and laboratory attendance is considered vital to the learning process and as significant to the students’ evaluation as examinations and reports.

1. Students having a combination of excused and/or unexcused absence of 20 percent or higher for the scheduled course hours are required to withdraw and automatically receive a “RW” (required withdrawal) for the course, regardless of any other evaluation results. (RW is a failing grade.).
2. An excused absence is one that is verified with your instructor. Verification should be prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence. Verification of the absence may take the form of a note from your doctor/College nurse regarding illness, or a note from another instructor regarding a field trip or other activity, or authorization by your instructor. An unexcused absence is anything NOT verified by the instructor prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence.

It is the students’ responsibility to know their own absentee record.

Normal hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with potential for evening courses, exams or extended field trips. Students are expected to be available for classes during these times.

Content of Course:

1. Systems thinking for sustainability
2. Social sustainability
3. Environmental sustainability
4. Economic sustainability
5. Use of technology for sustainable agriculture: understanding and assessing theories of change
6. Indicators for assessing sustainability
7. Opportunities for optimizing the sustainability of agri-food value chains

• Official final grades will be available on My Lakeland. Grades posted in D2L should be considered interim grades.  
• “Lakeland College is committed to the highest academic standards. Students are expected to be familiar with Lakeland College policies related to AC 16.0 - academic conduct, AC 20.0 - student rights and responsibilities, and AC - 15.0 academic integrity procedure and to abide by these policies. Violations of these policies are considered to be serious and may result in suspension or expulsion from the College.”  

  Participation	5%
  Quizzes/Tests	10%
  Assignments	25%
  Term Project	40%
  Final Exam	20%
  Total	100%

• Official final grades will be available on My Lakeland. Grades posted in D2L should be considered interim grades.  
• “Lakeland College is committed to the highest academic standards. Students are expected to be familiar with Lakeland College policies and to abide by these policies. Violations of these policies are considered to be serious and may result in suspension or expulsion from the College.”  

Students must maintain a cumulative grade of C (GPA - Grade Point Average of 2.00) in order to qualify to graduate.

Every effort has been made to ensure that information in this course outline is accurate at the time of publication. Lakeland College reserves the right to change courses if it becomes necessary so that course content remains relevant.

In such cases, the instructor will give students clear and timely notice of changes.

No part of this course outline may be reproduced in any form or resold without written permission from Lakeland College.

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