AEM 2816 - Climate-Smart Agribusiness

(WRT-AG) (CU-SBY)

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only (no audit).

Prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar or equivalent. Enrollment limited to: Dyson students. Satisfies CALS written expression requirement and Dyson Grand Challenges writing requirement.

T. Preszler.

With 690 million people around the world facing hunger and agri-food systems emitting one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, it is urgent to achieve food security while adapting to – and mitigating – climate change. This course examines strategic business innovations in climate-smart agriculture, centered on the challenge of transforming global food systems with low carbon land-use practices. Students will use insights from economics to analyze the environmental impacts of farming and identify opportunities for transformative actions in agribusiness management. Our focus will be on four important economic sectors (rice, livestock, aquaculture, and agroforestry) in the context of three climate change mitigation strategies: (1) Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; (2) Adapting and building resilience to climate change; and (3) Reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions.

Outcome 1: Investigate the most important and controversial topics in climate-smart agribusiness, formulate their personal views about the issues, and debate them critically with their peers.

Outcome 2: Develop the skills of argumentative writing through exercises in concision; using evidence to support claims; self-editing; effective use of tone, grammar, and rhetorical devices; and peer-review through a multi-draft essay composition practice.

Outcome 3: Weigh the relative sustainability of business practices associated with low carbon farming and propose actions to foster strategic business innovation in the sector.

Outcome 4: Prioritize the advantages and disadvantages of a climate-smart agribusiness outlook compared to the “business as usual” approach.

Outcome 5: Diagram the roles and interactions of different stakeholders in climate-smart agribusiness (managers, executives, regulators, consumers, banks) and propose solutions for improving those interactions.