This subject contains a 3 day Compulsory Residential School.
A systems approach means that agriculture is studied as a whole. This is in contrast to the reductionist scientific and technology problem solving method that is the basis of most subjects in the agriculture course. Here agriculture is portrayed as a mass of component parts studied separately. The advantage of the holist approach used in systems thinking is that it emphasises interactions and complexity in agriculture - including the people component. Emergent properties are also a feature of systems that are not appreciated in normal scientific work - the important point being that the whole is larger and more complex than the sum of the parts. Thus, systems agriculture provides a better understanding of the true nature of agriculture with its many facets (production, scientific, ecological, social, political, economic, management) and its complexity. The aim of the subject is to manage and understand change in agriculture.
The project is a central aspect in Agricultural Systems. It is a real world problem-solving task in which you will be a self-directed learner
No offerings have been identified for this subject in 2019.
HD/FL
One session
School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Must have completed 2 years of the BAppSci (Agric) course or a sequence of study considered satisfactory by the Subject Coordinator
a) General systems theory, agriculture as a human activity system, the interface between ecology, agroecosytems and social systems. Social research methods, systems analysis - including situation improvement, learning and problem solving in agriculture. The economic, social, cultural and political influences affecting change in agricultural systems
This subject contains a 3 day Compulsory Residential School.
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The information contained in the CSU Handbook was accurate at the date of publication: May 2019. The University reserves the right to vary the information at any time without notice.