Agricultural Sciences

This course offers an introduction to Landscape Design for those who are not majoring in Landscape Architecture. Topics discussed in lectures and in a series of short design exercises explore the design process from inception to completion, including the use of soft and hard landscape materials. Students prepare landscape design proposals for a garden or a commercial property. 

This course is taken in stage 4 of the Food Science degree program. Course lectures focus on how raw materials, processing, and microbial interactions affect the quality of fermented foods.  Students focus on bread and beer but a range of other plant and animal-based fermented products is also a feature of group project work. Students are given a substantial group challenge in which they examine in detail the fermentation processes exploited in selected food systems, the processing steps involved, and the impact of processing parameters and raw material components on the quality of the finished fermented products.

 

The course covers aspects of physics including atoms, lasers, nuclear, and light in agriculture science. The course uses online lectures, while assessment contains lab-based experimental work and tutorials support learning.

This course explores, for students with and without a science background, the linkages between forests, climate (change), and carbon (as well as other greenhouse gases). Topics include forest types, tree species; environmental factors determining tree growth/health; impacts of forests on climate and ecosystems; climate predictions, expected consequences and dendro-climatology; mitigation: carbon sequestration, biomass, renewable energy, product lifecycle, conservation of existing forests and forest expansion, land-use change and context of forestry among other land-use types e.g. agricultural systems; adaptation: forest management and sustainability, forest conversion/transformation, species selection, silvicultural systems; carbon trading: reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD); international cooperation (Kyoto, Copenhagen, Madrid, Cancun, Paris etc.) and current position for Ireland. Course includes a compulsory one-day fieldtrip.

Drawing on chemistry, genetics, neurobiology, evolution, and psychology, this course explores why and how humans have pursued flavor for millennia. The course includes literature discussion; market visits; food preparation and testing, as well as performance of DNA-based gene testing to uncover food biological history.   

This course examines plants and plant communities through a focus on medium to large scale planting design and green infrastructure that supports healthy urban environments. It covers planting design strategies and structures as integral components of urban and suburban landscape systems, as well as planting design strategies that have been implemented or proposed in the Sydney Region. 

This course introduces important and common foliage plants, using actual plants combined with slide presentations. The course covers: industry overview, indoor plant air purification, plant understanding and identification, growth habits, reproduction, temperature, light requirements, fertilizer management, light domestication physiology, nutritional health diagnosis, indoor greening and landscaping furnishings application, etc.

This course introduces the purpose, methods and operating conditions of food processing. The course covers the following topics: chemical and nutritional composition of food, food irradiation and microwave applications, semi-moist food, fermented food and food freezing and cold storage, and factory hygiene, thermal processing and commercial sterilization, drying and concentration, food storage stability, quality changes, use of preservatives and additives, and food packaging. 

The course focuses on the major aspects of the basic physiological functions and the factors in relation to plant growth and development. The course provides a background in plant biology to gain a deeper understanding of processes that are important for agriculture, horticulture and industry, as well as further tools to further study plant biology. The course discusses plant hormones in detail, as well as how plants respond to changes in their environment, for instance to light, or to stress.  

This course requires a background in botany, plant biology or nutrition.  

The course focuses on agroecological principles to analyze and design sustainable and productive farming systems. Agroecological principles include Recycling and efficiency; Living Soils; Biodiversity; Ecosystem services and multi-functionality; Resilience; Fair Markets; Culture & spirituality; Youth & Women; Adequate Policies & governance; Knowledge co-creation and collaboration. How agroecological farming systems are developed across the world, and how principles can be applied and translated into adaptive farming practices and management are explored There is a strong focus on methods, approaches, and indicators used to assess mechanisms that regulate the ecological functioning of farming systems. Methodologies to involve farmers and promote the dialogue between scientific and practical knowledge for the design of agroecological farming systems are learned.