Week 1: Introduction to Metropolitan Agriculture
Introduction
Welcome to week one of the MetroAg Open Online course! This week you will be introduced to challenges, competing values and strategies relating to Metropolitan Agriculture. You will listen to a presentation from an expert in Metropolitan Agriculture and take part in an online discussion. Details are below!
Assignments
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Weekly Webcast: The live webcast for this week was held on Monday, March 12, 2012. If you were unable to watch the live presentation you can listen to the recording of the webcast by going to the following link: Week 1 Webcast Recording. During the webcast participants listened to a presentation and asked questions through an online chat. -
Reading: Read pages 28-47 of the Sustainable Agricultural Entrepreneurship.
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Discussion Forum: Each week you will be asked to answer a question in a discussion forum. The question will be focused on the weekly webcast topic. A discussion forum is an online conversation in the form of posted messages. You can post your reply to the question and also reply to posts made by other participants. These discussions are meant to be a place to share thoughts and ideas – so feel free to comment, post messages and get the conversation started! Click HERE to go to the forum for this week or click on the Forum link at the top of the page. To submit your answer to the question select “Reply to Post.”
Webcast Details
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Webcast Title: The Challenge
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Webcast Speaker: Dr. Henk C. van Latesteijn
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Webcast Date/Time: March 12, 11 am Eastern US and 4 pm Central European
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Link to Recorded Webcast: Week 1 Webcast Recording
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PDF Version of Webcast Presentation: Week 1 Presentation
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System Compatibility Test: To test your Internet connection and computer for the webcast click on the following link: http://na1cps.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
Resources
“The Challenge”
- (site) FAO – Food for the Cities http://www.fao.org/fcit/en/
- (article) Living Planet Report: Humanity Now Needs 1.5 Earths http://www.business-biodiversity.eu/default.asp?Menue=49&News=233
- (article) ‘Half of global population will live in cities by end of this year, predicts UN’ (26 February 2008) http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25762
- (article) ‘Green revolution’ can ensure enough food for entire world (UNEP) http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29930
- (book) FAO – Food for the Cities ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/ak824e/ak824e00.pdf
- (book) Carolyn Steel – Hungry City – How Food Shapes our Lives http://www.hungrycitybook.co.uk/
- (book) UNEP – The Environmental Food Crisis http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/
“Competing Values”
- (article) The 9 billion-people question (organic farming cannot feed the world) http://www.economist.com/node/18200618
- (article) Never mind organic, feel the food print (The Times, December 31, 2007) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article3114744.ece
- (article) Forget Urban Farms. We Need a Wal-Mart http://www.good.is/post/forget-urban-farms-we-need-a-wal-mart/
“A New Logic”
- (article) Why Sustainability Needs Big Business and Why That’s Not Enough http://sustainablefood.org/images/stories/pdf/Why_sustainability_needs_big_business.pdf
- (video) FoodCity – Project by MVRDV – The Why Factory – Stroom Den Haag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JRDHKAJqtA
- (video) FoodPrint Manhattan – A research project conducted by The Why Factory, MVRDV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDQufkrfm4&feature=player_detailpage
- (video) CityPig (2009) A project by Winy Maas and The Why Factory (TU Delft) about urban pig farming in the Binckhorst in The Hague (Netherlands). Commissioned by Stroom Den Haag on the occasion of the Foodprint program (2009-2010). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1r5GutrXX4&feature=related
- (video) Carolyn Steel – TED Talk ‘How to feed a city?’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLWRclarri0&feature=player_detailpage
- (article) UN-rapporteur: Eco-Farming Can Double Food Production in 10 Year http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/press_releases/20110308_agroecology-report-pr_en.pdf and formal report http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20110308_a-hrc-16-49_agroecology_en.pdf
“Operational Approach”
“The New Agricultural Entrepreneur”
- (article) Extraordinary Farming http://www.transforum.nl/en/images/stories/Extraordinary_farming_Volkskrant_301110_newspaper_version.pdf
“New Modes of Co-Creating Value”
- (video) Creating Shared Value – Michael Porter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2oS3zk8VA4