Παραγωγή: στα αγροκτήματα
On this module we explored the challenges in agriculture starting from the history of agricultural technology and ending to the new technologies that have developed for this area.
Our aim was a better understanding of where our food comes from, how it’s produced, and the associated environmental, social and sustainability challenges for farmers.
Besides plant production (horticulture) we explored animal production (meat, dairy, and egg), fish farmings and beekeeping so as to examine different farming systems. We also identified innovative technologies available to farmers to boost sustainability so that our students be able to better understand farming challenges, and how farming relates to the food in their plate.
An introduction was made by using two documendary films:
Farmland and Kiss the ground :How We Can Reverse Climate Change (we had already seen the original film in the beginning of our project implementation).
Then were introduced the topics and designed our activities as following:
-
Plant Production
-
Animal Production
-
Challenges facing sustainable farming
-
Technology and how it can help
Parallel some onsite visits and outdoor activities were to be organized but due to Covid pandemic some were delayed for the next school year.
PLANT
PRODUCTION
One of the greater global challenges facing our planet due to global warming and increased population to be fed is the Increase of sustainable production of plant food.
Thus the topic's activities were combined more or less with our daily teaching and learning activities related to plant morphology and growth, soil science, plant protection, agriculture and environment, automated systems in agriulture, sustainable crop management, precision agriculture, organic agriculture, etc so as to better achieve our goals.
.jpg)
ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
Αυτό είναι μια παράγραφος. Κάντε κλικ στο "Επεξεργασία κειμένου" ή κάντε διπλό κλικ στο πλαίσιο κειμένου για να ξεκινήσετε την επεξεργασία του περιεχομένου και φροντίστε να προσθέσετε τυχόν σχετικές λεπτομέρειες ή πληροφορίες που θέλετε να μοιραστείτε με τους επισκέπτες σας.
Students' task was to work in national and transnational teams based to the following webquest so as to create an augmented reality presentation to be used to inform the citizens and the farmers in their area about the animal production systems and how these influence animal welfare, meat quality, our health and environmental sustainability so as to critical think how we'll manage to achieve long lasting access and consumption of nutritious, safe, attractive, and pleasant meat products, taking into account sustainability criteria.
All the material produced had to be uploaded to a padlet.
Challenges facing sustainable farming
A discussion was held on what means the term “sustainable agriculture” and students were encouraged to make a research so as to develop that it has been in use since the late 1980s, and still remains a challenge.
Then the three key challenges facing agriculture were presented:
-to provide safe and nutritious food to a population that grows from 7.5 billion people today, to nearly 10 billion by 2050.
-to provide a livelihood to farmers and people work in food-related jobs.
-to provide all these respecting the planetary boundaries, without leading to natural resources shrinking, deforestation, additional GHG emissions, and a loss of biodiversity.
HOW THESE COULD BE TACKLED?
"These challenges must be tackled together if we are to make sustainable progress in any of them so as to have positive effects and avoid unintended impacts on other objectives. That's why all agree that sustainable agriculture is a team sport that requires partnerships with all involved in getting food from farm to fork, so as to implement innovative and environment friendly practices that support healthy soil, water quality and flourishing pollinator habitat."
STUDENTS WERE CALLED TO THINK ABOUT THIS STATEMENT AND EXPRESS OPINIONS
Τransformative global agendas might help to address the aforementioned challenges
The European Green Deal that come with the willing to transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring:
-
no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050
-
economic growth decoupled from resource use
-
no person and no place left behind
The Paris Climate Agreement that is a global treaty that seeks to limit climate change through adaptation and mitigation (decrease in greenhouse gas emissions).
The 2030 Agenda that covers a wide array of issues across 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve sustainable development. It is based on principles of universality (as it involves all countries, rich and poor), indivisibility (the Agenda focuses on several goals simultaneously) and inclusivity (since its implementation requires a multi-stakeholder approach, including the private sector and civil society).
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) common vision for sustainable food and agriculture, that addresses the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental. Those principles are fully in line with all the global agendas and, as such, should be implemented altogether and in a synergistic way -supported by policy makers at a country level- so as to spread awareness and implement transformations about sustainable agriculture production.
get informed
Students made use of the given links related to these global agendas so as to be better informed
Students present their answers to the following questions;
-
What can policy makers do to address these important challenges, taking into account their interconnectedness?
-
Which are the obstacles that stand in the way of overcoming these challenges and how can we overcome them?
and some key drivers of transition towards sustainable agriculture in a padlet
present
discuss
Technology and how it can help
For this unit students worked based to an escape game. Through a map they travelled to the history of technology use in agriculture from the paleolithic period until nowadays. At the end of the game those who successfully passed all the scenes are driven to a padlet where have to present -after making a research- some technologies that could be adopted in smart farming
