Crop Production Processes and Sustainability (5cr)

Objective

After completing the course, you will have gone through the annual cycle of arable farming, examining its processes from three perspectives of sustainability: ecological, economic and social. You will outline the material flows and profitability of arable farming. In addition to the growing season, the technological perspective covers harvesting and processing of the crop on the farm. You will examine the ecology of arable farming, for example through various balance sheets. You will plan one year's cultivation measures with crop planning software towards a specified production target.

EUR-ACE: Knowledge and understanding
knowledge and understanding of suitable materials, equipment, tools, technologies and processes and their limitations in your own field of specialization
knowledge and understanding of suitable analysis, design and research/development techniques and methods and their limitations in your own field of specialization.
EUR-ACE: Applying technology to practice
ability to identify, formulate and solve complex problems, being able to select and have practical skills to apply established analytical, computational and experimental techniques and methods that are appropriate to the situation
ability to utilize in design and development an understanding of the future requirements of one's own field
EUR-ACE: Interdisciplinary competence
awareness of the social, occupational health and environmental, economic and industrial impacts of the professional practice of engineering and an understanding of the limitations they impose

Content

Processes and sustainability of the annual cycle of field cultivation. Objectives of field cultivation, material flows, cultivation measures and methods, assessment of the profitability of field cultivation. Field cultivation machinery and equipment, crop processing and preservation. Use of crop planning software.

Qualifications

Basic knowledge of Finnish crop production, production inputs, cultivation practices and cultivation technology.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

You know the annual cycle of field cultivation and recognize field cultivation processes from three perspectives of sustainability: ecological, economic and social. You describe the material flows and profitability of field cultivation. You understand how and why different technological solutions are used in field cultivation, harvesting and crop processing at the farm level. You understand how different indicators can be used to examine the ecology of field cultivation. You have planned one year's cultivation measures using crop planning software, but only for some of the fields on the farm.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

You know the annual cycle of field cultivation and can analyze field cultivation processes from three perspectives of sustainability: ecological, economic and social. You understand the material flows and profitability of field cultivation by applying and comparing different options. You can apply how and why different technological solutions are used in field cultivation, harvesting and crop processing at the farm level. You can calculate the ecological quality of field cultivation using different indicators and can analyze the results. You have planned one year's cultivation measures in a feasible way using crop planning software for all fields on the farm.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

You can evaluate the annual cycle of field cultivation and field cultivation processes from three perspectives of sustainability: ecological, economic and social. You describe the material flows and profitability of field cultivation, applying and evaluating different options. You can analyze and evaluate how and why different technological solutions are used in field cultivation, harvesting and crop processing at the farm level. You can calculate the ecological quality of field cultivation using different indicators and you can analyze the results. You have planned one year's cultivation measures in a feasible and accurate way using crop planning software for all fields on the farm.

Further information

The software used in the course runs on the Windows operating system.