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Sustainable Plant Systems (Seminar)
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:30:55
Abstract
Agriculture, food and waste management should use less resources to accept the planetary boundaries. The focus of the seminar is:(1) Agroecological systems. Can we transform the impact of agricultural in Switzerland and beyond?(2) Food system transformation. How can local sustainable food systems be built and scaled through policy strategies, food environments and consumer habits.
Objective
Participants will be able to: (1) Review issues of sustainability in the context of plant science research and literature on sustainable agriculture and the food system. (2) Analyze and interact on several case studies on agro-ecology and the food system.
Content
Future society has to feed nine billion people, therefore agriculture and food, waste and resource management have to go hand in hand toward the use of less resources and acceptance of the limits of Planetary Boundaries. The focus of the seminar will be: (1) Research in agroecological systems. Can we transform the impact of agricultural in Switzerland and beyond? (2) Food system transformation. How can local sustainable food systems be built and scaled through policy strategies, food environments and consumer habits. The seminar will have (a) two face-to-face sessions, (b) self‐organized group work phase with case studies that will be analyized by student groups and results be presented, (c) participants will publish a report in the ETHZ-PSC Science and Policy Blog on their findings. Case studies (CS) will include: CS 1: How can Swiss farmers move to zero environmental impact? CS 2: What influence do the consumers in developed (importing) countries have on sustainability of (mainly) small-holder farming in the developing (sourcing) countries? CS 3: Sensor based fertilization techniques at the filed for sustainability? CS 4: The blessing and curse of nitrogen – transferring knowledge from Science to Society to create more awareness. CS 5: The transformation of the (urban) food systems and changing consumer food habits.
Resources
Learning Materials (Links)
- Learning environment
- Sustainable Plant Systems
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC , DR , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
Sustainable Plant Systems (Seminar)
**together with University of Zurich and University of Basel**
Dates: October 30, 2024 & December 04, 2024 (14:00 - 18:00)
More information:
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|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Doctorate Environmental Systems Sciences (More Information at: )
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