Department of Geography
Concentration in Food and Agriculture (Bachelor of Science in Geography)
Students on Summer 2024, Fall 2024, or Spring 2025 requirements GEOGFAACON
Requirements
The concentration requires at least 15 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
- Food and Agriculture. 15 credit hours:
- 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE NMcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
- 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.
- Spring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 2024CASE DUScourse
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Spring 2025CASE SLcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE GCCcourseFall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE GCCcourseFall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE NMcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
- 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE NMcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE GCCcourseFall 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 2024CASE SHcourse
- Spring 2025CASE SLcourseFall 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.
- Spring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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.
- 300–499 Level Requirement. 12 credit hours of concentration courses must be at the 300–499 level.
- Concentration GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
- Concentration GPA. 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.
- Concentration Minimum Grade. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the concentration.
- Concentration Upper Division Credit Hours. At least 9 credit hours in the concentration must be completed at the 300–499 level.
Concentration Area Courses
-
Courses that may apply toward the Credit Hours and GPA requirements in this academic program include all courses listed on the requirement course lists at the time the course was taken as well as any other courses that are deemed functionally equivalent.
Exceptions to and substitutions for concentration requirements may be made with the approval of the unit's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.