Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Overview

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security course from Newcastle University focuses on the availability of food now and in the future. This is a major concern of scientific and commercial communities world-wide.

The prominence of this subject is driven by:

• an increasing global population
• pressure on non-renewable or scarce resources
• a need to increase food production whilst minimising the impact on the environment

The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security master's covers all aspects of food security as outlined by Global Food Security. The Global Food Security is a multi-agency programme involving the main UK public sector funders of research and training related to food.

Industry experienced and research-active lecturers teach on this course.

Delivery

This course at the Newcastle University is taught in four-week teaching blocks.

You'll be taught through:

• lectures
• seminars
• practical and field classes
• tutorials
• case studies
• small group discussions

We expect you to undertake independent study outside of these structured sessions.

We offer flexible learning for those already working in industry through the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme. This framework enables us to award postgraduate-level qualifications using credit-bearing stand-alone modules as 'building blocks' towards a qualification. This means that the credits from modules undertaken within a five-year period can be 'banked' towards the award of a qualification.

Facilities

Our multi-purpose farms are viable farming businesses. We use them as demonstration facilities for teaching purposes. They also provide land-based research facilities.

Our facilities provide an open innovation platform enabling researchers to work with farmers, industry, and environmental and government stakeholders. Together, they develop innovative solutions for balancing sustainable global food production with a thriving rural economy and protection of the wider environment.

These research facilities help us to understand:

• the development and functioning of plant and animal hosts, pathogens and their interactions
• the complex biogeochemical functions of the soil
• crop and livestock health, welfare and productivity
• environmental impact
• interactions between the managed farm environment and the land-air-water interface

We use this fundamental knowledge to:

• integrate genomics, physiology and agronomy in molecular breeding approaches
• develop and optimise farming systems

We collect real data from a network of on-farm crop, soil, livestock and environmental sensors. We use this data to calibrate and validate the digital technologies and models that help us in our research and developments.