Scope: Agriculture is at a crossroads and solutions are needed to ensure that present and future systems can produce food in sufficient quantity and quality for the growing population. One big challenge is to deal with the resources that are getting scarce and are under strong regulations to limit their impact on the environment, such as nitrogen and water. Improving resource use efficiency (RUE) is therefore a relevant process for more sustainable agriculture. RUE can be defined and improved at different levels: from soil processes to field and to whole farm management. There are different processes and management aspects at various levels that influence RUE and collectively they are important for improving our agronomic practices and securing food production in a sustainable way.
In this course, we will thus approach RUE at three different levels: the soil and plant level, the field level and the farm level. We will focus on how to improve RUE at the different levels and explore how changes at one level influence RUE at the other levels. We will concentrate on nitrogen and water use efficiency as these resources are key drivers of agricultural productivity and their use needs to be improved to ensure sustainability. Ultimately, we challenge the students to propose strategies to improve RUE for an association of farms that encounter different challenges regarding resource use, climate change and farmers management.
Target group: The course is aimed at PhD candidates, postdocs, and other academics
Course duration: 5 days
Contact: PE&RC Office: office.pe@wur.nl
Registration of interest: You can register your interest HERE (note: this is not an official registration).
