Climate Smart Agriculture: OL 333

Discover climate solutions to help your community’s families and businesses combat global warming.

Depleted and eroded soils, unreliable access to water, drought, outmoded agricultural practices and a lack of coping strategies for adapting to a changing climate are leading to reduced agricultural productivity and income for North American Farmers.

OVERVIEW: Climate Smart Agriculture Course Details

What is this course?

An 8 week, self-paced training program. where you will develop a Climate Smart Agricultural Plan to present to your community for adapting to a changing climate. Each one of the assignments will be a concrete step in developing the plan. By the end of the 8 weeks, you will have conducted surveys with the community to better understand the challenges—and will have researched solution-oriented activities to solve them.

Climate Smart Agriculture: Learn by doing.

In OL 333 participants and their community members will first develop a map of local cropping systems, and soil and water resources, and then consult with an expert in soil, water and agriculture to develop a Climate Smart Agricultural Plan specific to their local community needs.

How will you you learn about Climate Smart Agriculture?

The course includes an overview of different viewpoints of climate smart agricultural practices complete with downloadable manuals and field guides for each technique. Examples include:

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Practices

Water Management

Stone check dams and brush dams for flood and erosion control
Low-tech terracing and contour farming
Passive rainwater harvesting: sunken planting beds, earth berms, and collection channels

Dryland Farming

Replenishing soils: minimal soil disturbance, mulching, and cover crops
Drought-resistant, traditional seed selection
Planting depths, spacing, and techniques for dryland farming

Regenerative Agriculture Techniques

Regenerative Farming

Mulching, cover cropping, reduced soil disturbance, nutrient management
Crop rotation, biodiversity, agroforestry, reduced tillage, organic cropping
Animal integration, grazing systems, biodiversity, agroforestry, perennial crops

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Activities

NRCS Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Mitigation Activities List

Soil Health
Improved Nitrogen Management
Enhanced Livestock, Grazing, And Pasture Management
Improved Agroforestry, Forestry, And Wildlife Habitat
Restoration Of Disturbed Lands
Improved Energy, Combustion, And Electricity Efficiency
Wetlands Restoration
Precise Water Management

Who should take this Climate Smart Agriculture course?

This course is designed to develop a plan for a rural agricultural community—although It will be just as useful for a family farmer to use on their own farm.

From the community perspective, this course is perfect for a group of engaged community members, a nonprofit serving rural communities, tribal communities, and local governments hoping to improve farming conditions in their town.

Who should take these climate action courses?

SYLLABUS

Climate Smart Agriculture Course Syllabus

8 Weeks: Work with farmers to solve climate challenges

Week 1. Surveys and interviews to collect local knowledge on agriculture.

Week 2. Participatory mapping of cropping systems, and soil and water resources.

Week 3. Traditional Ecological Knowledge Practices.

Week 4. Regenerative Agriculture Techniques.

Week 5. Dryland farming techniques. Buffering against extended dry spells.

Week 6. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Activities.

Week 7. Workshop planning for sharing improved agricultural practices with community members.

Week 8. Facilitate a community meeting to receive input on the plan.

REVIEWS

Climate Smart Agriculture Participants Say:

“Hi Tim, Please find attached Assignment 5 for OL 333.

I really enjoyed this assignment, I thought that the activities made sense—and the training program I have developed is looking great (I even feel like I want to take this training program myself!).

I was actually looking forward to taking this course and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Great course! Anne Desrochers.

INSTRUCTOR
Tim Magee: Climate Change Scientist & Author

Work with your community’s farmers to solve climate challenges. Take this 8 week course to get farm families growing healthy, nutritious food again!

Real human help: The training program will be led by Tim Magee, CSDi’s Executive Director, who has over 40 years experience in growing food. Mr. Magee is the author of A Field Guide to Community Based Adaptation, A Solar Greenhouse Guide to Food Production, and was a Co-Founder of Seattle Tilth: An Urban Agricultural Center. Mr. Magee studied international agriculture at Washington State University—a Land Grant University.

Questions?

Have a question? Contact our team for quick answers.

ENROLL: How To Enroll in This Course.

Simply click on the “ENROLL NOW” button to make your payment.

Last Step: If you have chosen to work with a live teacher, your next step is to simply fill out the student informaton sheet to complete your registration.

This course has a prerequisite: OL 102 Sustainable Development Projects, or 242 Fund Your Climate Action Plan,
or OL 342 Climate Change Adaptation. Why are there prerequisites?

PRICING: Climate Smart Agriculture with a Live Teacher

Teacher Led

$100.00
Take this course with a live teacher. You will have complete access to the download course resources and lessons described below. Certificate: Turn in the 6 assignments and you will receive a PDF Certificate. Your course teacher will offer professional comments and encouragement for your assignments.

INCLUDES: Climate Smart Agriculture Resources

Course resources include:
8 PDF Detailed Assignments
8 PDF In-depth Discussions
8 MS Word Completed Assignment Templates for you to personalize to be your own assignment for submittal.
Over 50 Word, Excel and PDF resources to download that contain learning guides, studies—and project templates for you to edit and personalize.