Fundamentals in Applied Agronomy

An Online Course from the American Society of Agronomy

Orientation Thursday January 6, then Tuesdays from January 11 to March 29

Classes on Tuesday Nights
7:00 to 9:15 p.m. Eastern/ 6:00 to 8:15 p.m. Central/5:00 to 7:15 Mountain/4:00 to 6:15 p.m. Pacific

Registration is closed (deadline January 3, 2011)

“Fundamentals in Applied Agronomy” is a preparatory course for those who want to become a Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) or Certified Professional Agronomist (CPAg). This course will follow the 2010 ICCA Exam Performance Objectives, transforming book knowledge into real management skills.

Costs:  $475 plus the cost of additional resources (For a list of additional resources/books to purchase, please see the Spring 2011 Course Syllabus link below.)

CEUs:  Full participants in the course, who are certified, will automatically receive CEUs. CCAs will receive 24.0 CEUs with 6.0 CEUs in each of the following categories of Nutrient Management, Soil and Water Management, Integrated Pest Management and Crop Management. CPAg, CPSS and CPSC certificants will receive 24.0 CEUs in Professional Meetings. Lecture quizzes must be passed in order to receive the CEUs for this course.

Course Description:

Fundamentals in Applied Agronomy is an introductory crops and soils course designed for the practitioner hoping to build their knowledge and skills in the topics that are most needed for a Certified Crop Adviser. Upon completion the learner should have a fundamental knowledge of soil and water, nutrient management, pest management, and crop management.  Topics include basic soil physical and biological characteristics, resource conservation, irrigation, drainage, water quality, soil and tissue analysis and interpretation, fertilizers and other nutrient sources, soil pH and liming, pest identification, sampling, and control, cropping systems, planting practices, crop growth and development, harvest, storage, and managing production risk, among many others.

The course is taught using distance education technology, but a variety of practical examples and case situations will be woven into content delivery to maximize understanding and its application in the field. Whether you are personally involved in production agriculture, advising farmers as an agricultural retailer or consultant, a representative for an agricultural business or government agency, or just looking to build your expertise, this course will cover topics that should be of direct interest to you.  While this course is not designed to teach a student how to take the Certified Crop Adviser exams or to cover all the topics included in local or International performance objectives, it will complement an individual’s preparation in becoming a Certified Crop Adviser or Certified Professional Agronomist.

Spring 2011 Course Syllabus

Instructor Bio:

Bruce Erickson is a Certified Professional Agronomist that uses his expertise and experience in education and agribusiness to provide solutions for crop producers, their advisers, and the industries that depend on them. Erickson’s areas of expertise include corn and soybean production, remote sensing and its application in precision agricultural practices, instructional design, and competency-based education and assessment.

For the last several years Erickson has worked in a consulting role to agribusinesses and government agencies in the U.S. and Canada. He has experience in building technical, product-related, sales and marketing programs to fulfill individual proficiency needs and to meet business goals, and then delivering through classroom, field, teleconference, CD and web-based platforms. Erickson is the Director of Cropping Systems Management in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, where he conducts research related to farm technology and farm management economics, leads the team that plans and implements the Top Farmer Crop Workshop, and also works extensively with the Site-Specific Management Center and Field Crops Extension programming.

Erickson grew up on an Iowa farm, completed his undergraduate work at Iowa State University in Agronomy, then began his professional career as an agronomist with Pioneer Hi-Bred. After completing his Master’s at Iowa State in Crop Production and Physiology and his PhD in Agronomy at Purdue, Erickson was on the staff of the Purdue Department of Agronomy where he taught the introductory agronomy course and played a leading role in developing and maintaining the performance objective documents and the minimum proficiency exams for the International Certified Crop Adviser Program (CCA). More recently, Bruce served as Senior Technical Designer at Agri Business Group in Indianapolis, an agricultural consulting company.

Please contact Michele Lovejoy (mlovejoy@sciencesocieties.org) with any questions.

Refund Policy
Participants may request a refund of their registration fee prior to the orientation date, January 6, 2011, and will be refunded the registration fee minus a $50.00 change fee. After the orientation date, January 6, 2011, the registration fee becomes non-refundable.

Specifications

We use GoTo Meeting software to provide class instruction.

As the information to access the seminar will be sent to you, you must have an email on file with us. If you are unsure if we have an email for you, check your profile at https://www.agronomy.org/account/ or https://www.soils.org/account/ - note that a login with email is required to access this information. The seminar will be conducted online. However, participants may dial-in via their phone line (at their cost - the dial-in number will not be an 800 number). All participants will need internet access and your computer must be equipped with a soundcard and internal or external speakers. For those attendees wishing to access the seminar via phone only, you will still need to login prior to the seminar to access the dial-in number.

Specification Details:
To attend a meeting on a PC, the following is required:

• Internet Explorer® 6.0 or newer, Mozilla® Firefox® 2.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Windows® 2000, XP, 2003 Server or Vista
• Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Minimum of Pentium® class 1GHz CPU with 512 MB of RAM (recommended) (2 GB of RAM for Windows® Vista)

Participants will connect to audio using VoIP (voice-over IP) and will need a fast Internet connection and speakers. A microphone (a USB headset is recommended) is optional (to ask questions via voice).

To attend a meeting on a Mac, the following is required:

• Safari™ 3.0 or newer, Firefox® 2.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer
• PowerPC G4/G5 or Intel processor (512 MB of RAM or better recommended)
• Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Participants will connect to audio using VoIP (voice-over IP) and will need a fast Internet connection and speakers. A microphone (a USB headset is recommended) is optional (to ask questions via voice).

If you have any questions, please contact Michele Lovejoy, e-mail: mlovejoy@sciencesocieties.org or phone: 608-268-4953.

Terms of Use

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