Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
and International Agriculture
Tropical Cropping Systems
"Biodiversity, Social and Environmental Impacts"
[CSS/IARD 414]
[Tue/Thurs
|
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
This course
characterizes and discusses the major crops and cropping systems found in the
tropics. The course also utilizes various CALS faculty to give lectures on topics in their specialist disciplines. The course does not plan to ask
students to memorize large quantities of factual information. Instead, the
course and the various take home exams are intended to teach students how to
extract and find information from various sources and utilize this information
in clearly written outputs. The students will be evaluated on their ability to
synthesize all they learn in the class into a web page and oral presentation on
a selected cropping system of their choice by the end of the semester. The
course uses slides, video, multimedia tools and web based technology
(discussion boards and Blackboard) to illustrate and assist class discussions.
Students will evaluate traditional
slash and burn cropping, lowland rice-based systems, upland cereal-based
systems, arid and semi-arid systems, smallholder mixed and mulch cropping, agroforestry
systems, and plantation-based fruit and oil crop systems. The effects on system
sustainability of factors such as climate, land quality, soil management, land
tenure, labor, and markets are considered against a backdrop of species
diversity, traditional domestication, and biotechnological advances. The
impacts of tropical land use on the global environment are also evaluated and
the potential effects of global climate change on tropical landscapes and
cropping systems are discussed.
The aim of this tropical
systems course is to enhance student knowledge about the complexities of
different cropping systems in the tropics. Characterization and discussion of
different tropical systems in relation to soil management, land quality,
climate, livestock, labor, land tenure, markets and economic factors are
considered. The impact of tropical cropping systems on the environment is
evaluated.
The following key elements
of the course are:
- A clear understanding of the effect of climate
on the various tropical cropping systems and their productivity in
different parts of the World.
- A discussion of the interactions of tropical
soils with crop management that determine the sustainability of these
productive systems.
- A knowledge of the different crops that can be
grown in the tropics, from commercial cereals to root and legume crops to
plantation crops and exotic fruits.
- Discussion of species diversity and
domestication.
- A discussion of how the crops, soils and climate
determine the many different tropical cropping systems.
- The importance of social and economic factors in
determining productivity, choice, profitability and sustainability of
cropping systems.
- A discussion of the various tropical systems:
traditional shifting cultivation, lowland rice systems, arid and semi-arid
systems, agro-forestry, plantation and fruit crop systems, livestock
interactions, and upland and mixed farming systems.
- Some discussion on development needs in tropics.
INSTRUCTOR
Peter
R Hobbs
Adjunct
Professor, Department Crops and Soil Science
609
Bradfield Hall
254-7295;
ph14@cornell.edu
Web site: http:\\www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/hobbs/index.htm
Office hours: Call or e-mail me for an appointment
Professor Hobbs has lived and worked with agricultural
scientists and farmers in
Adjunct
Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (CSS)
at Cornell from October 2002
CIMMYT representative and cropping systems agronomist for
CIMMYT
wheat systems agronomist in
IRRI rice-based cropping systems agronomist based in
It is important that each
student attends the lectures and arrives in class on time. If the student
cannot make the class he will be encouraged to meet the instructor and make up
work by reading lecture notes posted on the Blackboard site. The Instructor
would like to encourage students to participate in class through questions and
discussion. Hopefully instruction can be 50 minutes with 15 minutes for open
discussion. Poor attendance will reflect in the final grade since the student
will miss discussions. Students will need to work outside the classroom to gain
additional information on areas of interest and to gather information for the
various class assignments.
Projects include:
- 3 take home exams where students are asked to
obtain information on crops and systems of their choice from various
library sources and turn them into short reports and bulletins.
- Analyze and make suitable comments on a development aid video shown in class by following and contributing to a discussion board forum setup in the Blackboard system.
- Participate in three 2-hour lab sessions to view the crop garden, tropical plant collection and discuss various issues
- Develop an oral presentation and a web page on any tropical system of interest to the student. If the class is big enough this will be done as small group projects to allow students in the class to interact with each other.
SCHEDULE [Tuesdays & Thursdays.
|
Date |
Instructor |
Topic |
|
8-24 |
Peter Hobbs |
Introduction to Tropical Cropping Systems - An
overview of the material to be covered in the course. Introduction to Tropical
cropping systems |
|
8-29 |
Peter Hobbs |
Principles of crop management. World Crops
introduction. International centers working on tropical topics. |
|
8-31 |
Johannes Lehmann |
Soils of the Tropics: Management for
sustainable cropping |
|
9-5 |
Peter Hobbs |
Diversity and domestication |
|
9-7 |
Peter Hobbs |
Legume and Tuber Crops |
|
9-12 |
Peter Hobbs |
Video “You can’t eat
potential” – Norman Borlaug. Discussion |
|
PRELIM EXAM 1 [TAKE HOME] Due |
||
|
9-14 |
Bob Blake |
Livestock in mixed farming systems |
|
9-19 |
Margaret Smith |
|
| 9-20 Lab | Peter Hobbs and Margaret Smith |
Cornell Plantation and KP greenhouse visit |
|
9-21 |
Ian Merwin |
|
|
9-26 |
Ian Merwin |
|
|
9-28 |
Ian Merwin |
|
|
10-3 |
Peter Hobbs |
|
|
10-5 |
Peter Hobbs |
|
|
10-7 to 11 |
FALL BREAK - NO CLASS |
|
|
10-12 |
David Lee |
|
|
PRELIM EXAM 2 [TAKE HOME] Due October 27th TITLE & OUTLINE OF GROUP PROJECT DUE [ |
||
|
10-17 |
Christian Wien, |
Intensive vegetable
based systems |
| 10-18 Lab | Peter Hobbs | Dreamweaver class in Mann Library |
|
10-19 |
Peter Hobbs |
|
|
10-24 |
Norm Uphoff |
|
|
10-26 |
Peter Hobbs |
Agroforestry
video: Conservation farming and land care based on ICRAF video |
|
10-31 |
Janice Thies |
|
|
11-2 |
Peter Hobbs |
|
|
11-7 |
Bob Herdt |
Development issues in
tropical environments |
|
PRELIM
EXAM 3 [TAKE HOME] Due |
||
|
11-9 |
Integrated pest
management in the tropics |
|
|
11-14 |
|
|
|
11-16 |
Peter Hobbs |
|
|
11-21 |
John Gaunt |
|
|
11-22 to 27 |
THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO CLASS |
|
|
11-28 |
Student Discussion
& Group Project presentations [Session I] |
|
|
11-30 |
Student Presentations of Group Project presentations
[Session II] |
|
| 12-2 | Semester Ends | |
A list of reading material
will be posted on the Blackboard web page and be held on reserve in Mann
Library. There are many sources of information but no one text book is
recommended for the course. If students want to buy books, the following two
are available in the Cornell Store. The first is a general reading on Crops and
Man and the second a book that could be useful for those entering a career in
tropical cropping systems.
Harlan,
J.R. 1992. Crops and
Additional reading includes the
following:
Balick,
M.J. and Cox, P.A. 1996. Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany. Scientific American Library.
228 p. GN476.73.B35x 1996
Beets, W.C. 1990. Raising and Sustaining the
Productivity of Smallholder Farming Systems in the Tropics. AgBe
Publishing,
Buck, L., Lassoie, J.P. and Fernandes,
E.C.M. 1999. Agroforestry in Sustainable Agricultural Systems. CRC
Press. S495.5.A45 A37512 1999
Lee, David R. and C.B Barrett (editors). 2001. Tradeoffs and Synergies? Agricultural
Intensification, Development and the Environment. CABI
Lal, R. and P.A.Sanchez
(Editors). 1992. Myths and
Science of Soils of the Tropics. SSSA Special publication number 29. S599.9.T76.M87x 1992
Morton,
Julia F. 2000. Fruits of Warm Climates. Creative Resource Systems. http://newcrop.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html SB359.M76x
1987
Nair, P.K. Ramachandran. 1993. An Introduction to Agroforestry. Kluwer Academic Publishers and ICRAF. 499 pages.
S494.5.A45 N3543x 1993
Purseglove, J.W. 1968. Tropical Crops: Dicotyledons. Longman. 719 p. SB111.P98
1974
Purseglove, J.W. 1972. Tropical Crops:
Monocotyledons. Vol. 1. Longman.
334 p. SB111.P98T 1972
Ragland, J. and Lal, R. (Eds)
1993. Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture in the
Tropics. American Society of Agronomy (ASA) Special
publication No. 56.
Ruthenberg, H. 1980. Farming
Systems in the Tropics. with contributions by
J. D. MacArthur, H. D. Zandstra,
and M. P. Collinson. Clarendon Press,
Samson,
J.A. (1986) Tropical Fruits. Pages 1-43 are a good introduction to major
tropical fruits, climatic factors, and basic taxonomy; pages 270-320 review the
minor fruits. SB359.S19 1986
Sen, A.K. 1999. Development as
Freedom.
Smith,
N.J.H. et al. (1992)
Simpson, B.B. and M.C. Ogorzaly (1986) Economic Botany: Plants in our
World. Pages 102-144 review major
tropical fruits and vegetables. SB108.U5S61x 1995
Thurston, H.D. 1991. Sustainable Practices for Plant Disease Management in Traditional
Farming Systems. Westview Press /
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/home2.html
Livestock in
Tropical Farming Systems
International
Agriculture Research
Alternatives to
Slash and Burn Agriculture
Traditional
Farming Systems Website
Conservation
Agriculture FAO web site
Rolf Derpsch Conservation Agriculture web page
"You can't eat potential"
[Sasakawa-Global 2000 and Producer & Director:
Tony Freeth].
A documentary
program about the urgent need for agricultural development. "Food security, poverty
reduction and environmental protection all depend on the development of
agriculture....Does the world have the political vision to ensure that the
vast, untapped potential which exists is mobilized to avert the (food) crisis?"
"Fields of Trees" [ICRAF & Television Trust for
the Environment (TVE); Producer & Director: Bruno Sorrentino]
"Fields of Trees is an
upbeat and compassionate story about farmers who are benefiting from scientific
research as it meshes with ancient farming know-how to develop agroforestry farming systems that can provide daily
sustenance and can safeguard the environment into the next century, and beyond.
Fields of Trees profiles four farming families - in
Grades for the course will be determined as follows:
Grade on final oral presentation and web page (no final exam): 50%
Grade on three take home exams: 45% (15% each)
Participation in class discussions: 5%
A = 90% +
B = 80 --
89%
C = 70 –
79%
D = 60 –
69%
F = 59% and
below
No final exam. Instead of a final
exam, students will participate in structured group exercises aimed at
designing a web page on a specific tropical cropping system and giving an oral
presentation on the topic they chose in the web page.