Concentration in Food and Agriculture (Bachelor of Science in Geography)

Students on Summer 2019, Fall 2019, or Spring 2020 requirements GEOGFAACON

View Degree MapA semester-by-semester path to completing degree and major requirements

Requirements

The concentration requires at least 15 credit hours (including at least 12 credit hours at the 300–499 level), including the requirements listed below.

Select from the following courses:
- GEOG-G 218 Edible Education
- GEOG-G 265 The Places and Traces of Food
- GEOG-G 307 Biogeography: The Distribution of Life
- GEOG-G 315 Environmental Conservation
- GEOG-G 352 Food and Poverty in America
- GEOG-G 357 Urban Alternative Agriculture
- GEOG-G 359 Fundamentals of Sustainable Agriculture
- GEOG-G 368 Water in the Midwest
- GEOG-G 369 The Geography of Food
- GEOG-G 379 Topics in the Geography of Foods
- GEOG-G 384 Food, Place and War
- GEOG-G 391 Geography of International Development
- GEOG-G 405 Ecological Climatology
- GEOG-G 417
- GEOG-G 448 Capitalism and Nature
- GEOG-G 449 Political Ecology
- GEOG-G 451 Physical Hydrology
- GEOG-G 461 Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
- GEOG-G 469 Food and Global Poverty
- GEOG-G 478 Global Change, Food, and Farming Systems
- GEOG-X 473 Internship in Geographical Analysis (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- GEOG-X 490 Undergraduate Readings and Research in Geography (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- One (1) additional course from the Geographic Methods course list
GEOG-G 218 Edible Education
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Explores many different aspects of the food movement in a single course. Topics include organic agriculture, school lunch reform, farm-to-school programs, urban agriculture and food sovereignty using a multi-disciplinary perspective.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 265 The Places and Traces of Food
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Introduces the multifaceted connections between what we eat and where we eat. Place influences food - its taste, availability, diversity, meaning, and food practices - in production, distribution, and consumption sites through multiple scales. This course takes a geographical approach to place and food.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 307 Biogeography: The Distribution of Life
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
A survey of the present and past distributions of the world's plants and animals, emphasizing ecological explanation of species distributions. Topics include evolution and distribution of major plant and animal groups, world vegetation, plant and animal domestication, introduction of plant and animal pests, destruction of natural communities, and extinction.
- Summer 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE NMcourse
GEOG-G 315 Environmental Conservation
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Explores the environmental impact of global population growth, natural resources utilization, and pollution. Examines current problems relating to energy consumption, farming practices, water use, resource development and deforestation from geologic and ecological perspectives. Strategies designed to avert predicted global catastrophe will be examined to determine success potential.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SLcourse
GEOG-G 352 Food and Poverty in America
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
This course examines the experience of food insecurity in the USA, the role of poverty in food production and consumption, and the current mitigation strategies and social movements challenging the global food regime. Students will learn the differences and connections between concepts of food security, food justice, and food sovereignty. Relationships between food and gender, race, and ethnicity will be explored, along with the geographical and social concepts of food deserts and food choice.
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE DUScourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 357 Urban Alternative Agriculture
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
From connecting with the earth to changing the food system, this course digs into the narratives surrounding community gardens and community orchards. Explores topics like sustainability, food justice, and the pastoral roots of these projects. Utilizes multimedia, speakers from community projects, and class discussion.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SLcourse
GEOG-G 359 Fundamentals of Sustainable Agriculture

Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Presents the fundamentals of specialty crop and animal sustainable agriculture based on an agro-ecological framework. Study and application of ecological, social, and economic concepts in evaluating for farm sustainability. Includes both in-class and field lab experiences.
GEOG-G 368 Water in the Midwest
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Explores the science, politics, and ethics of water in the Midwest from the Bloomington campus to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins. Critically examines such water issues as pollution, environmental justice, flooding, invasive species, agricultural and urban water demand, and effective regulation.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 369 The Geography of Food
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Promotes understanding of the history and geographic distribution of the world's food cultures. Focuses on the material aspects of food and food's relationship to society. Increases knowledge of food and cultures through reading, discussion and cooking.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 379 Topics in the Geography of Foods

Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Introduction to major cuisines of different countries. Food knowledge and practical skills are acquired through reading and cooking. Students are expected to be active participants in the course through reading, cooking and tasting food. Includes the cooking of a 4-5 course meal each class.
Repeatability
May repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
Grading
S/F grading.
GEOG-G 384 Food, Place and War
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
What is the relationship between war, food and a distinctive sense of place? Uses literary nonfiction, including memoirs and histories, to examine how war shapes what people eat, how they get food, and how they use it to connect to communities and the places they inhabit.
Repeatability
Credit given for only one of GEOG-G 384 or GEOG-G 445.
- Summer 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 391 Geography of International Development
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Addresses questions, such as why is global wealth so unevenly distributed, and what role does international assistance play in mitigating or exacerbating this, using theories of geographically uneven development, critical approaches to space and place, and a survey of \"solution spaces\" focused on mitigating inequality at multiple scales.
- Summer 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 405 Ecological Climatology
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Surveys the relationship between climate and vegetation and explores the consequences of human impacts. Examines the role of climate on vegetation patterns, agricultural crops, and select ecosystems and in turn, the influence of vegetation on climate.
- Summer 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE NMcourse
GEOG-G 448 Capitalism and Nature
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
How has nature been appropriated, reworked, and produced under capitalism; conversely, how does the materiality of nature shape the conditions of capitalism? In this seminar, we will investigate how relations between capitalism and nature have evolved from the end of feudalism through the current neoliberal era.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SLcourse
GEOG-G 449 Political Ecology
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
An introduction to political ecology, an approach which focuses on the political-economic context of natural resource conflicts with particular attention to issues of equity, justice, and power. Covers the theoretical lineage of political ecology, its development over the last twenty years, and current hot topics in the field.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 451 Physical Hydrology
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Introduction to hydrological processes occurring at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Principles of water resources such as infiltration, runoff, surface- and groundwater flow will be explored. Topics covered also include the environmental, economic, and social implications of floods, droughts, dams, and water usage as well as current and future issues in water quality, water pollution, and water-resource regulation.
- Summer 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE NMcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE NMcourse
GEOG-G 461 Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Introduction to global environmental change (GEC), focusing on the human causes and consequences of biophysical transformations of land systems. Emphasis on socioeconomic, political, institutional, and environmental dimensions of land change; tropical forests, grasslands, and urbanizing areas; international environmental regimes; spatial methodologies in GEC research, and integrated approaches.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-G 469 Food and Global Poverty
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
How is the production and consumption of food related to poverty and development? Explores how global food systems affect farmers, farmworkers, retailers and consumers; the ways scientific advances changed rural economies in the Third World; and the history of famine and contemporary food security issues.
- Summer 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE GCCcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SLcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SLcourse
GEOG-G 478 Global Change, Food, and Farming Systems
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Introduction to food production and consumption systems, emphasizing linkages to land use and social change on food/farming system sustainability. Topics include urbanization, population growth, and economic liberalization; farming livelihoods, gender, and poverty; biotechnology; agro-ecology, global health.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
GEOG-X 473 Internship in Geographical Analysis

Credits
1–6 credit hours
Prerequisites
Consent of instructor
Notes
Maximum of 3 credit hours will count toward major
Description
Supervised field experience in geography, normally in conjunction with approved work at a government agency or private firm. Requires 45 hours of work per 1 credit hour.
Repeatability
May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours in GEOG-X 274, GEOG-X 374, GEOG-X 473 and GEOG-X 474.
Grading
S/F grading.

GEOG-X 490 Undergraduate Readings and Research in Geography

Credits
1–3 credit hours
Prerequisites
Consent of instructor
Description
Individual readings and research in geography.
Repeatability
May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours in GEOG-G 450 and GEOG-X 490.
Concentration GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
1. At least 9 credit hours in the concentration must be completed at the 300–499 level.
2. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the concentration.
3. A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the concentration—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
4. Exceptions to concentration requirements may be made with the approval of the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.