Tentative
Class Schedule Fall 2009
Introduction
to Tropics -
Beginner's Guide - CGIAR
Web Sites (Jan. 26)
Land of Plenty, Land of Want (Journey to Planet Earth) (Jan. 28)
Climate Classification - dry, semi-arid, sub-humid
and humid tropics (Jan. 30)
Climatic Factors - temperature, rainfall, humidity, light, drought, famine (Feb. 2)
Tropical Crops in Massachusetts (Feb. 4)
Plant responses to water stress and drought, flooding, heat, and humidity (Feb. 6)
Perspectives on - (agriculture & food security; food & population growth) (Feb. 9)
Green Revolution: A failure or a success? - FAO perspective (Feb. 11)
Population, socio-economics, global issues - FAO 2004 Food InSecurity (Sep. 13)
No Monday Class (Feb. 16)
Critical Issues in Global Agriculture (Feb. 18)
Soil Basics (Feb. 20)
Tropical Soils (tropical soils, acid soils, green manures) (Feb. 23)
World Food Crops
- Plants for Tropical Subsistence Farms (Feb. 25)
Principles of Crop Selection (Feb. 27)
Major food crops - Cereals (rice)(Mar. 2)
International research organizations: Class Presentation (Mar. 4)
FIRST-TERM
EXAM (Holdsworth Hall Rm 302) (Mar. 6)
Major food crops - Cereals (maize, sorghum) (Mar. 9)
International research organizations: Class Presentation (Mar. 11)
Major food crops - Cereals (pearl and finger millet) (Mar. 13)
Spring Break
Major food crops
- roots & tubers (cassava, cass.2, sweet
potato, taro, yam) (Mar. 23)
Major food crops
- roots and tubers (Mar. 25)
Major food crops - legumes (bean, chickpea, cowpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, soybean) (Mar. 27)
Major food crops - oil seeds (Mar. 30)
Not so major food crops - pseudo-cereals (Apr. 1)
Major food crops - (vegetables, moringa tree) (Apr. 3)
Major food crops - fruits (banana, coconut and breadfruit) (Apr. 6)
Tropical fruit (Apr. 8)
Other crops - forages (forages-ECHO, tropical forages) (Apr. 10)
Cropping Systems - multiple cropping and polyculture (Apr. 13)
Cropping Systems - Shifting Agriculture (Apr. 15)
SECOND-TERM EXAM (Holdsworth Hall Rm 302) (Apr. 17)
Cropping
Systems - Alley cropping, Agroforestry Princ., Agroforestry (Tuesday Apr. 21)
Field Trip - Tropical Crops Durphy Conservatory (Apr. 22)
Dryland/Rainfed
agriculture - Food production: the
critical role of water (Apr. 24)
Strategies
and technologies for dryland crop production - Dryland
Farming (Apr. 27)
Understanding Drought and Desertification (Apr. 29)
Dryland Agriculture Review (May 1)
Animal agriculture (May 4)
Global Banquet, by Invitation Only (May 6)
THIRD-TERM EXAM (May 8)
Class Project Presentation (May 11)
|
Evaluation:
|
|
Class
participation
|
0 to -5%
|
| Short
papers and class presentations |
20% |
|
Class
project
|
20%
|
|
Term
exams (3)
|
60%
|
Textbook (Recommended, not required): Tropical and Sub-Tropical Foods, by Susan Mayhew and Anne Penny, Macmillan Education Ltd.
Available from the ECHO Bookstore