Organization Name: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Training course: MSc Agroecology
Place: Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Training language: English
Dates: Fall Semester deadline: January 15
Spring Semester deadline: November 15
Summer Semester is flexible
Duration: 3 semesters
Cost: Depending on status
Funding: Depending on status
Target groups and admission requirements:
Training objectives:The program aims to train analysts and researchers in such a broadened vision of the possibilities of agriculture. Underexploited ecological and social opportunities hold promise for a more broadly beneficent agriculture. Agricultural strategies of the past century consistently substituted industrial inputs for biological processes. Environmental quality and social equity concerns are stimulating reconsideration of the best balance between the industrial and the biological, and development of new technologies and new forms of socioeconomic organization for striking that balance. The social opportunity lies in our emerging appreciation of the power of inclusive participatory processes to lead to wise and equitable environmental decisions. By coming to appreciate these contextual issues and through exposure to concepts of systems, ecology, and public process, graduates will shape the evolution of this new agriculture.
Training program: The Agroecology Program offers a Master's degree with two tracks:

* The Public Practice Option is a 3-semester program that trains facilitators to enable broader discussion and negotiation at the interfaces of agriculture and other sectors of society. The goal of this 'action-in-society' option is to train analysts to increase understanding about the roles of agricultural systems in multifunctional landscapes, and the public policy that shapes these roles.
* The Research Option addresses the need for continued research and scholarship in order that discussions and negotiations are well informed. Students will have the opportunity to obtain experience in the scholarship of original research, culminating in the writing of a thesis.
Contact details:
Agroecology Program
139 King Hall
1525 Observatory Dr.
UW-Madison
Madison WI 53706-1299
Christine Elholm
Email: caelholm@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-890-1456
Fax: 608-265-2596