Resource Use Efficiency

To be announced

Scope

Agriculture is at a crossroads and solutions are needed to ensure that present and future systems can produce food in sufficient quantity and quality for the growing population. One big challenge is to deal with the resources that are getting scarce and are under strong regulations to limit their impact on the environment, such as nitrogen and water. Improving resource use efficiency (RUE) is therefore a relevant process for more sustainable agriculture. RUE can be defined and improved at different levels: from soil processes to field and to whole farm management. There are different processes and management aspects at various levels that influence RUE and collectively they are important for improving our agronomic practices and securing food production in a sustainable way. In this course, we will thus approach RUE at three different levels: the soil and plant level, the field level and the farm level. We will focus on how to improve RUE at the different levels and explore how changes at one level influence RUE at the other levels. We will concentrate on nitrogen and water use efficiency as these resources are key drivers of agricultural productivity and their use needs to be improved to ensure sustainability. Ultimately, we challenge the students to propose strategies to improve RUE for an association of farms that encounter different challenges regarding resource use, climate change and farmers management.
The course will focus on:

Learning goals of the course:

1. Appraise definition and quantification approaches for RUE at different levels and for different resources
2. Examine how RUE processes influence each other at different levels of integration.
3. Analyse strategies to use RUE to enhance sustainability
4. Identify/develop strategies to improve RUE for an association of farms within their specific context

Course set-up

Poster carousel
Monday morning, after the general welcome and introduction, there will be a poster carousel during which participants present themselves, their research and interest in the course. The carousel will involve 6 sessions where approximately 5 posters will be presented. Posters will remain in the lecture room throughout the course. Prior to the course, participants will receive a poster format from the course office, which can be submitted back to the office in PDF for printing.

Keynote, Lectures, and Discussion
On Monday there will be a keynote speaker introducing the topic and challenging the participants to think outside the box regarding the topic. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, 3 lectures by scientists providing a general theoretical view on how to study and improve RUE at the plant-soil, field or farm level. After each lecture, a discussion is held, convened by the participants who challenge the speaker. Participants receive a speaker’s paper prior to the course to provide as background information and to help formulate questions to challenge the speaker after their presentation.

Groupwork
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, participants will work in groups of around 5 people and work on the challenge” How to redesign the farming system to improve RUE at the level of a farm association”. Each group will work with a farm association that has specific challenges that could be approached from the plant-soil, field or farm level. The activity is supervised by the lecturers and course organizers, and there will be ample time for discussion around the theoretical background, possible redesign interventions and the consequences for RUE.

Course Organisers

• Franca Bongers (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
• Alix Vidal (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
• Gerrie van de Ven (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
• Claudius van de Vijver (Graduate School PE&RC, Wageningen, The Netherlands)

General information

More information

Claudius van de Vijver (PE&RC)
Email: claudius.vandevijver@wur.nl

Registration of interest

At this moment, this course is not scheduled yet. However, if you register your interest in this activity below, we will inform you as soon as the course is scheduled and registration of participation is opened.