AGRON 212
Crop Growth, Productivity and
Management
(link) .
Overview of agronomic management practices
in the context of global and US
agriculture. Current practices and their
historical evolution. Agriculture as a
managed ecosystem. Constraints arising from
resources, markets, and regulation. Managing
for diverse goals: profitability, and wise
natural resource management. Emphasis on
crops grown in the Midwest with a global
perspective. Key ecological and evolutionary
topics to be included: biogeochemical
cycles, soil organic matter, and field level
crop nutrition, hydrogeological cycles, and
crop water use; food webs and pest
population regulation, genetic diversity and
crop improvement, selection for pest
resistance, movement of soil and nutrients.