In the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences .
Course Offerings
The Soil and Crop Sciences Section provides courses, advising, and curriculum planning for several CALS undergraduate programs, including Agricultural Sciences , Environment & Sustainability (formally Science of Natural and Environmental Systems), International Agriculture and Rural Development , and Plant Sciences . Students interested in soil and crop sciences are able to major in one of these programs to tailor their coursework according to their desired specialty. The section offers coursework in crop science, soil science and environmental information science that address the need for environmentally sustainable agricultural systems to produce food for a burgeoning world population. Coursework on nutrient and carbon fluxes in ecosystems addresses methods to improve nutrient use efficiency, improve soil health, and solve greenhouse-gas issues. Courses introduce students to productive and sustainable land use practices on regional, national, and international scales, and to remote sensing and geographic information sciences. Main thematic areas focus on food production systems, sustainable agroecosystem management, and linkages between agriculture and environmental change.
The Agricultural Sciences major is an interdisciplinary program for students wishing to pursue a broad-based education in agriculture to prepare for careers that require a scientific and integrative understanding of agriculture and food systems. Students can concentrate in one or more areas, including Animal Science, Business, Education and Communication, Crop Production and Management, and Sustainable Agriculture. The Plant Sciences major provides the opportunity to gain depth of understanding in the biology of plant systems, such as crop-weed competition, approaches toward genetic improvement of crops, and crop responses to environmental stresses. Students in the International Agriculture and Rural Development major who take the Agricultural and Food Systems concentration gain an understanding of crop production in tropical systems and also economic and sociological issues in emerging nations. The Environment & Sustainability (formally Science of Natural and Environmental Systems) major offers a biogeochemical science concentration that addresses the interface of environmental science and human systems involved in environmental management.