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INVESTIGATOR: Jordan, N.; Anderson, J. A.; Wyse, D. L.; Porter, P. M.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA 55108

NEW GRADUATE TRAINING IN AGROECOLOGY: AN INTEGRATIVE BIOSCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Societal demands on agriculture are rapidly mounting. In addition to major increases in global food production in coming decades, society increasingly demands that agriculture produce a wide range of other goods, services and amenities. These include biofuels, various bio-industrial products and environmental services produced by agriculture, such as carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, aquifer recharge and the construction of resilient land-use systems to manage risks from climate change. In essence, the challenge to agriculture is to increase the production of marketable commodities, while maintaining the integrity of essential life-support functions of the biosphere. This project must proceed against a backdrop of global environmental and climate change. These intertwined issues of production, conservation and adaptation surely constitute one of the 'grand challenges' facing humanity. To meet this challenge, it will be necessary to substantially redesign agricultural systems and their interface with food, water, soil, and energy systems. Presently, the US does not have a scientific workforce capable of creating knowledge and innovations needed to meet this challenge. To help remedy this problem, we will organize and facilitate an interdisciplinary training program in Integrative Agroecology to address the TESA Training in Integrative Biosciences for Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems. Integrative agroecology understands agricultural ecosystems broadly, as 'coupled human-natural systems' (CHNs). CHNs are defined by interplay of biophysical and social factors; these interactions are at the root of many challenges to sustainability in CHNS. Sustainability science addresses these challenges and aims make progress on them by engaging science with broader knowledge systems and multi-stakeholder networks. Our program approaches agricultural systems - and related systems of food, water and energy use - as CHNs, and aims to train scientists able to address complex and controversial problems in these systems, including 'food-fuel' conflict, development of multifunctional landscapes, and management of risks from climate change. Few US graduate programs train agricultural scientists able to apply sustainability science in comprehensive, systemic efforts to meet such challenges. To fill this gap, we will test a graduate curriculum that aims to produce scientists well-versed in a relevant agricultural science discipline and willing and able to meet CHNs challenges through engagement with broader knowledge systems and multi-stakeholder networks. Our curriculum uses innovative courses that emphasize experiential, systemic and integrative learning to train students in new methods that bring intellectual rigor and practical effectiveness to 'the systems approach', including transdisciplinary research platforms focused on agricultural CHNs. We will leverage NNF funding with other support to create a `critical mass' cohort of 6-8 Integrative Agroecology Fellows.

OBJECTIVES: We will train two doctoral students in the TESA Training in Integrative Biosciences for Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems, via our National Needs Fellowship Program in Integrative Agroecology. Integrative agroecology understands agricultural ecosystems broadly, as 'coupled human-natural systems' (CHNS). CHNS are defined by interplay of biophysical and social factors; these interactions are at the root of many challenges to the sustainability of these systems. Sustainability science addresses these challenges by engaging science with broader knowledge systems and multi-stakeholder networks. Our program approaches agricultural systems - and related systems of food, water and energy use - as CHNS, and aims to train scientists able to address complex and controversial problems in these systems, including 'food-fuel' conflict, development of multifunctional landscapes, and management of risks from climate change. Few US graduate programs train agricultural scientists able to apply sustainability science in comprehensive, systemic efforts to meet such challenges. To fill this gap, we will test a graduate curriculum that aims to produce scientists well-versed in a relevant agricultural science discipline and willing and able to meet CHNS challenges through engagement with broader knowledge systems and multi-stakeholder networks. Ultimately, our program aims to educate high-ability students who can increase US competitiveness by increasing national capacity to develop, implement and refine innovative responses to complex and controversial problems in food and agricultural systems, which are of growing importance as a new 'bioeconomy' emerges against the backdrop of increasing resource scarcity and accelerating global change. Graduates of our program gain these abilities by increasing leadership and communication skills relevant to addressing complex and controversial agricultural problems. Graduates will also gain particular technical and functional skills in systems approaches to the analysis of such problems and the development of durable improvements to problems. Finally, graduates will develop both particular technical and scientific competencies in particular fields of bioscience, and the ability to engage these competencies in systemic approaches to agricultural problems. Our curriculum uses innovative courses that emphasize experiential, systemic and integrative learning to train students in new methods that bring intellectual rigor and practical effectiveness to 'the systems approach', including transdisciplinary research platforms focused on agricultural CHNs. We will leverage NNF funding with other support to create a 'critical mass' cohort of 6-8 Integrative Agroecology Fellows.

APPROACH: Drawing on a number of years of curricular and methodological development at the University of Minnesota, we will pilot-test a graduate curriculum for integrative agroecologists that aims to help meet the national need for agricultural scientists trained in sustainability sciences. Our program seeks to help students become agroecologists, rather than only to study agroecology. To do so, we will develop skills and attributes needed to participate - as 'integrative agroecologists' - in efforts to address complex agricultural problems through collective action and collaborative learning in multistakeholder groups. Fellows will share their training program with an additional group of 4-6 students supported by a grant from Monsanto Corporation to train students in the Applied Plant Science Graduate Program at the University of Minnesota in integrative agroecology as a complement to their training in plant genetic and genomic sciences. Fellows will begin their experience with an intensive summer field short course (Agro 5999 Agroecosystem Analysis). In the first year, they will take two core courses. The first course is Agro 5321 Ecology of Agricultural Systems. This course develops students' capacity to view agricultural ecosystems as 'eco-social' systems involving coupled biophysical and socio-economic elements. After introduction of fundamental concepts for systemic thinking, illustrated with agricultural examples, the course examines and applies a variety of methods for characterizing biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of eco-social systems in agriculture. The second core course is Agro 8900 Engaging Agricultural Science in Sustainable Development. Many agricultural innovations engage agricultural professionals in civic debates about matters that are complex and controversial, and thus demand new sets of professional capacities that extend significantly beyond technical expertise. We use experiential learning to encourage students to critically examine individual and collective worldviews and 'mental models' relevant to sustainable development challenges. We expect that the rich experiential learning opportunities posed by the three foundational courses, with their respective emphases on rapid agroecosystem appraisal, systemic understanding, and communicative learning, will produce students able to cooperate with others to apply systemic approaches, collective action and collaborative learning to complex agricultural problems. In particular, we expect that these integrative bioscientists will be able to participate in new modes of agricultural problem solving (e.g., 'adaptive co-management', 'adaptive experimentation') that have been widely advocated but are little used in practice. To define performance metrics for integrative agroecologists, NNF Fellows and participating faculty will work together in an ongoing interdisciplinary seminar for critical interdisciplinary reflection on both conceptual and practical dimensions of integrative agroecology, cultivating a 'habit of mind' of critical and collective reflection.

PROGRESS: 2009/12 TO 2014/11
Target Audience:Graduate students and faculty involved in the graduate curricula that were created under the project, and a broader audience of readers of publications describing graduate curricula created under the project; this audience includes agricultural scientists, students, university administrators, and a variety of other stakeholders in agricultural higher education, including agricultural businesses, non-profit groups, and government agencies. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided courses, reading and discussion groups, and academic advising and counseling to the following graduate students, scientific staff, and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Minnesota:Wade Kent,Peng Yu,Laura Felice,Miriam Gieske,Amanda Flipp,Adria Fernandez,Alex Strachota,You Lu,Kate Knuth,Chris Yaeger,Jared Goplen,Jordan Briggs,Kevin Dorn,Kevin Anderson,Kyle Haralson,Jon Anderson,Claire Flavin,Molly Kreiser,Kayla Altendorf,Bryan Runck,Patrick Ewing, Alwyn Williams. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated by academic publications, seminars, and discussions with stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

IMPACT: 2009/12 TO 2014/11
What was accomplished under these goals? We organized and facilitated an interdisciplinary training program in Integrative Agroecology to address the TESA Training in Integrative Biosciences for Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems. Integrative agroecology understands agricultural ecosystems broadly, as 'coupled human-natural systems' (CHNs). CHNs are defined by interplay of biophysical and social factors; these interactions are at the root of many challenges to sustainability in CHNS. Sustainability science addresses these challenges and aims make progress on them by engaging science with broader knowledge systems and multi-stakeholder networks. Our program has approached agricultural systems - and related systems of food, water and energy use - as CHNs. We have leveraged NNF funding with other support to offer training activities to a group of 22 graduate student participants in these training activities, with the aim of increasing their ability to address complex and controversial problems in these systems, including 'food-fuel' conflict, development of multifunctional landscapes, and management of risks from climate change. Our training program used innovative courses that emphasized experiential, systemic and integrative learning to train students in new methods that bring intellectual rigor and practical effectiveness to 'the systems approach', including transdisciplinary research platforms focused on agricultural CHNs. Fellows and other participants began their experience with an intensive summer field short course (Agro 5999 Agroecosystem Analysis). In the first year, they took two core courses. The first course is Agro 5321 Ecology of Agricultural Systems. This course develops students' capacity to view agricultural ecosystems as 'eco-social' systems involving coupled biophysical and socio-economic elements. After introduction of fundamental concepts for systemic thinking, illustrated with agricultural examples, the course examines and applies a variety of methods for characterizing biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of eco-social systems in agriculture. The second core course is Agro 8900 Engaging Agricultural Science in Sustainable Development. Many agricultural innovations engage agricultural professionals in civic debates about matters that are complex and controversial, and thus demand new sets of professional capacities that extend significantly beyond technical expertise. We used experiential learning to encourage students to critically examine individual and collective worldviews and 'mental models' relevant to sustainable development challenges. In summer 2011, after the first year of project activities, we conducted a formative evaluation of the program. Essentially, the evaluation took the form of a facilitated reflection in action, relying on a participative design in which the evaluation design team included the evaluator, pro- gram co-directors, student participants, and funders. The evaluation was conducted by a trained evaluator who was engaged to serve as an outside evaluator. Evaluation results are based on the critical reflections of our students on their experiences in the program to date. Evaluation data were gathered from a focus group with most of the students, in-depth semistructured interviews with all students and one program co-director, and a document review of student essays. A majority of our students reported that participation in the program had increased knowledge and skills relevant to the four key outcomes of the curriculum (critical reflection, rich observation, future design and visioning, and responsible participation). Many students reflected on their improved fluency with developing conceptual models of complex situations. There was also evidence of emergence in perhaps the most fundamental capacity, that of critical reflection. Students evinced a considerable ability to articulate how their self-concept as an agricultural scientist had changed through the program and the wider experience of their graduate studies, and how this conception related to their perceived identities, their core concerns, and envisioned future roles. The ability of the program to facilitate communicative learning through challenging conversations among a diverse group of individuals appeared to support this growth in students' critical reflections. This evaluation was published along with an account of the learning activities offered under the project in Jordan, N. R., D. L. Wyse, and B. Colombo. 2012. Linking Agricultural Bioscience to Cross-Sector Innovation: A New Graduate Curriculum. Crop Sci. 52:2423-2431. Also, we trained two doctoral students, Adria Fernandez and Laura Felice, in the TESA Training in Integrative Biosciences for Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems, via our National Needs Fellowship Program in Integrative Agroecology. Fernandez received her PhD in Applied Plant Sciences in 2015 (Dissertation title: Effects of cover crop and fertilizer incorporation on the structure and function of microbial communities in soils under long-term organic management); Felice has not yet received her degree but expects to defend during the current (2016-2017) academic year (planned dissertations title: Evolutionary Management to Enhance Disease-Suppressive Soil Microbial Communities).

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2009/12 TO 2014/11
Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Felice, L., Jordan, N. R., Dill-Macky, R., Sheaffer, C. C., Aldrich-Wolfe, L., Huerd, S. C., & Kinkel, L. L. 2014. Soil Streptomyces communities in a prairie establishment reflect interactions between soil edaphic characteristics and plant host. Plant and Soil 386: 89-981.