| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Practical | 3 x 3 hour practical visits per semester |
| Lecture | 2 x 2 hour lectures per week |
| Other | 2 x 1 hour Oral presentations/discussions on Conservation Plan |
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Group Project Course Work: Assignment set in week 1 and submitted week 11 | 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Re-presentation of coursework | 100% |
On completion of the modules, students should be able to:
1. Determine the potential environmental impacts of particular production systems and practices.
2. Critically analyse the methods used to assess the impacts of agricultural systems on the environment.
3. Apply ecological principles to enhance the environmental impacts of organic farming systems.
4. Recognise the importance of landscape-scale processors and historical context for agricultural systems.
5. Interpret the conflicts which occur when trying to balance production with sustainability.
6. Design a whole-farm nature conservation plan in context with the wider environment.
7. Establish a farm waste management plan and assess its likely environmental impact.
The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the positive and negative environmental impacts of organic agricultural systems, and an understanding of how to use ecological principles to enhance the environmental impacts plus the ability to scientifically measure these impacts.
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | The wast-management planning workshop requires students to handle and interpret numerical information to evaluate the best solutions for potential problems. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The critique of the farm conservation plan assignment for this module requires students to be able to apply integrative learning strategies. To successfuly complete the exercise, they must allow sufficient time to assimilate the various sources of information and for integrating learning from several modules to produce a full understanding of the process. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The outcomes of the module are designed to provide the skills and understanding that are required by the professional agr-ecologist working in environmental impact assessment or producing agri-environment scheme applications. |
| Problem solving | The module assignment will develop the students' ability to work independently integrating ecological science, practical agricultural knowledge, and habitat quality assessment to be able to critically evaluate existing conservation recommendations. This involves identifying and solving non-routine problems. These aspects will then be summarised in a report that justifies its criticisms with reference to the ecological and agricultural scientific literature. |
This module is at CQFW Level 7