Here is a list of our current students, who, in their own words describe their interests, reasons for studying Agroecology and thesis plans.
Agroecology class 2011
Photo: Tor Arvid Breland
2011
Camille Atlani (France)
Camille
Camille has a Bachelor in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology from University Paris-Ouest Nanterre. She has worked for a year as International Media Coordinator for the charity Survival International in London, where she also participated in the creation of an organic roof-garden. In North-Western Spain, she worked for a cooperative of organic farming. She then went to Colombia, to work as an assistant researcher on the campaign “Semillas de Identidad” (seeds of identity) with the charity Swissaid that works on issues of food sovereignty and defense of biodiversity.
She has strong interests in urban agriculture, strategies of adaptation to climate change, and communication.
Elise Audouin ( France)
Elise
Elise is completing her engineering degree from the Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan. Her degree offers her a diverse training that includes agronomy, agriculture, environment and food science.
She has completed various internships : in a beef, poultry, market gardening, and crops farm in France including direct selling ; in a goat farm in New Zealand with cheese processing and direct selling ; in an advisory organism working on direct selling in France.
She is particularly interested in the link between organic agriculture and how can the world feed itself, in the link between the quality of the soil and the human diet.
Teatske Bakker (France, born in the Netherlands)
Teatske
Photo:
Teatske has the equivalent of a bachelor degree in agriculture, agronomy, environment and food industry from the University of agriculture of Angers, west of France (ESA - Ecole supérieure d’agriculture).
Her parents run a dairy farm in the West of France. She had work experiences in a sheep farm with a guesthouse, as well as in a dairy cattle farm with cheese production. She also completed a training in a seed multiplication company in Denmark.
Céline Barrère ( France)
Celine
Photo:
Céline has the equivalent of a bachelor degree in agriculture, agronomy, environment and food industry (engineer diploma), from the Agricultural university of Purpan in Toulouse.
She has done various internships: in a mixed farm with dairy cattle in the North of France ; in a sheep dairy farm with cheese production in Australia ; in an association where she has worked on pastoralism in the Pyrenees (France).
Her father had sheep and she still has the farm.
Anne Brogi (France)
Anne
Photo: Anne
Anne has the equivalent of a Bachelor in Agriculture, Agronomy, Food Sciences, Environment and Rural development and is completing her engineering degree in the same field at the University of Agriculture in Lyon (ISARA).
She has completed internships in a dairy farm (250 cows) in New Zealand and a cheese making farm (40 goats) in France.
She is interested in ecological agriculture, in the link between people their food and the earth, and wants to learn more about permaculture and herbalism.
Chuqing Duan (China)
Cherry
Chuqing studied in Hunan Agricultural University, China from 2007 to 2011,majoring in Biotechnology. She worked as an assistant in the Miscanthus Research Institute at her University.
Her thesis was on the "Effect of PEG on Seed Germination and Growth of seedling of Miscanthus sinensis."
Maren H Endresen (Norway)
Maren
Maren has a bachelor degree in Chemistry and microbiology from Bergen. Her interest is within Environmental chemistry and the integration of it in an agroecological context.
She has fieldwork experience from Svalbard, which in general evolved around contamination from human actions which has a tendency to accumulate around the poles.
She would like to use her knowledge and experience to improve agricultural practice and minimize waste, perhaps in form of research on how to better close nutrient cycles.
Clara Feldmanstern (United States)
Clara F
Clara received a Bachelor’s degree in linguistics and since then has worked in horticulture, mainly in the US. She was most recently involved in community gardening and school gardens in and near Paris, France. She has worked on several organic farms, partly through the WWOOF network.
She is currently in the process of starting a small-scale organic teaching farm in the south of France, near Narbonne, which will include fruit and vegetable production and numerous outreach programs.
Clara Gouy (France)
Clara G
Clara has a Bachelor in Business and Management from a Scottish University.
During the last two years of her degree she focused on the areas of Ethics and Sustainable development in businesses. Last year she carried out a research project on local food sustainability in the Midlothian area (Scotland).
Amongst other things she is interested in food distribution, local food initiatives and climate change.
Ben Hunsdorfer (United States)
Ben
Ben graduated in 2006 with self-designed B.S. in Agroecology from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
During his Bachelor, he spent 2 years working for UMass Cooperative Extensions Vegetable IPM Program. He has worked at Lucky Field Organics, and Cherry Valley Organics as a primary grower, and was the Purchaser and Floor Manager at a newly developed farm goods store called How On Earth for part of that time.
In 2009 he spent the year in the Himalayas building greenhouses and a terraced farm for schools and monasteries. In 2010-2011 he continued working on organic cow and vegetable farms in MA.
Charlotte Bratberget Jensen (Norway)
Charlotte
Charlotte has a Bachelor in Environmental- and Development studies at UMB. One semester was done at the Agricultural University; EARTH in Costa Rica where she worked with organic farming and coffee production.
She also did a project concerning the social challenges of using pesticides on banana – and sugar cane plantations in Nicaragua.
Charlotte is interested in the link between local and global food systems, and how individuals have a responsibility as consumers and producers to make choices that promote sustainability.
Pavlos Kasfikis (Greece)
Pavlos
Pavlos is a small-scale organic farmer (vegetables) from Rhodes, Greece, with a degree in environmental engineering and a postgraduate degree in environmental assessment, auditing and management systems.
He has focused on farming methods that minimise fossil fuel inputs, completely exclude agro-chemicals, and are 'soft' to the human body. He treats farming as a design problem, where organic externalities of negative value coming from other industries become inputs for organic farming.
He is interested in how composting can be funded through CDM under the Kyoto Protocol as a methane prevention mechanism. He is also researching raised beds from agronomic as well as food sovereignty and security angles, and how this method can exist side-by-side with CDM composting. He believes that raised beds can transform the ways we grow vegetables, and his thesis will be geared at addressing relevant research questions.
Juan Olmedo (Mexico)
Juan
Juan is completing his BA in Human Ecology with a concentration on sustainable agriculture from the College of Atlantic, Bar Harbor (US).
He has done various internships: on Potomac Vegetable Farms during the summer 2007; on Productos Naturales de Agave S.A. de C.V. during the spring 2008; on the Domaine de la Croix des Fées Farm during the summer 2011.
Kwabena Omane (Ghana)
Kwabena
Kwabena specialized in Soil Physical Properties in his Bachelors, and is very concerned about the Environment. He is looking forward to educate farmers and to advocate for the policies to reduce or stop the use of inorganic pesticides and fertilizers on fruits and vegetables as well as cash crop such as Cocoa in Ghana.
Thomas Praire, France
Thomas
Thomas is currently in the first year of a master’s degree in Agroecology (European Master – Double degree). In France, he is a student at the Higher Institute of Agriculture in Lille. He is doing a five-year program leading to a master’s level degree in agriculture, environment and food sciences.
He is also a graduate in horticulture. He has knowledge about the cultivation of plants in greenhouses, planting trees, looking after a garden.
Thomas comes from the Vercors Regional Park, located in the Alps. He has been living there since he was born, in contact with nature and the environment.
He is already a mountain guide, and a Nordic ski instructor. He guides people to discover the mountains and nature, so spending time in a natural area plays a large part in his life. He is very fond of nature, and thinks that conserving a link with it, protecting and working for it is very important for people, and for their fulfilment.
Katharine Shiffler (United States)
Kat
Kat is a food justice activist from the midwestern United States. She's worked on organic farms in Chile, Maine, and Nebraska and is a beekeeping enthusiast.
She has a bachelor's degree in International Studies and Spanish from American University in Washington, DC and worked for several years as a science journalist and in public radio before enrolling in the Agroecology program at UMB.
Lizzy Simpson (United States)
Lizzy
Lizzy received her bachelor's degree in Geography in 2007 from Ohio University. Since then, she has worked as an environmental educator, studied herbalism, traveled, and worked on organic farms in the States and Central America.
She continues to educate herself on sustainable agricultural practices so that she may better be able to change the systems in agriculture that currently exist and are failing.
She is particularly interested in how communities can create change in agricultural policy through social movements and how people in these communities can feel empowered through having more control over the production of their food and medicine.
Camilla Sæbjørnsen (Norway)
Camilla
Camilla has the equivalent of a Bachelor degree in Food Science from UMB, Norway. Before this she studied natural medicine for animals in Oslo.
Camilla has worked at a dairy farm for one year and wants a small farm with chicken and sheep in the future.
She wants to work with local food initiatives and has a special interest for human nutrition.
Paul-Antoine Trompette (France)
Paul
Paul has a background in agronomy, crop production and landscape planning.
He has been working on several farms in France and in Australia. He also has worked for Bayer CropScience during 4 months.
He is interested in organic farming, permaculture, agroforestry and urban agriculture.
Marie-Eve Jacques Turcotte (Canada)
Marie Eve
Marie-Eve has a Bachelor degree in Agricultural Economics at University Laval, Quebec.
She has been in touch with some work about Environmental Economy linked with agricultural practices. One semester was done in Argentina and she also has worked in different organic farms in South America and Canada.
Isaac Yeboah (Ghana)
Isaac
Isaac has a bachelor in Agricultural science. He has also taken a one-year master course in African studies. He is interested in food security in developing countries especially countries in sub-saharan Africa.
Agroecology students at Fokhol Farm, August 2010
2010
Eva Brod (Germany)
Eva
Photo: Veronika Scholz
Before I came to Norway, I studied organic farming in Germany to find out how food can be produced in a sustainable way.
In my masters I wanted to learn how to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment – no matter if the farming system is called organic or conventional or no till. The agroecology classes gave me the possibility to practice holistic, creative and critical thinking and to discuss the global issues of our time.
For my master thesis I will test different organic waste types on their ability to replace artificial fertiliser. In the future I would like to contribute to finding original ideas for sustainable agroecosystems and to motivate farmers to apply them. And in my dreams I own my own little agroecosystem.
Karly Burch (USA)
Karly
Photo: Geir Lieblein
After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in global studies and a minor in professional writing, I spent some time as an intern working on sustainability projects and assessments in California before I lived for the next four years in various countries around the world including India, China and Japan.
My interested in studying agroecology arose from my experience working with farmers in India who had been negatively affected by the use of pesticides and genetically modified organism (gmo) seeds. They were looking for guidance on what to do to change their current situation, but at the time I did not have any answers for them. My experiences have made me see the world in a different way and I came to this program to continue to expand my mind and learn to analyze and help to solve the complex issues I see around me.
I am now spending my second semester studying at the University of Natural Resources and Life Science (BOKU), Vienna, taking courses in soil and various courses related to organic farming. While my thesis ideas have yet to fully crystallize, I hope to focus my research on some positive examples of sustainability in todays' farming and food systems.
Numa Courvoisier (Switzerland)
Numa
Photo:
Numa has a background in Biology. He hopes to expand his knowledge in the different fields that encompass agroecology such as agronomy, sociology, politics of food, development of alternative systems and so on. Moreover he wishes to use science as a concrete help for people and the improvement of systems.
He is very interested in exploring the concept of sustainability by enquiring the farmer’s perspective of it.
Léopoldine Desprez (France)
Leopoldine
Photo: Geir Lieblein
My background is in geography, biology and environmental science but I have always been interested in agricultural matters. I saw the Agroecology master program as a unique opportunity to dive into it. It is of particular interest to me since it focuses on agriculture as a broad system and takes into account various scales, and studies the whole picture on an international level.
I am particularly interested in sustainable animal production, and studying at the Montana State University for the second semester gave me an opportunity to increase my knowledge in this area.
Ehsan Ebrahimi (Iran)
Ehsan
Photo: Geir Lieblein
My B.Sc. is in Agriculture engineering (Agronomy and plant breeding). I did my B Sc. project on ethics in agriculture because I am interested in human sciences.
I have chosen Agroecology because it brings together two of my passion-human sciences and ecological farming. I prefer to continue this master with a focus on organic farming and ethical issues around agriculture.
I decided to continue my studies on the PhD level and I want to work for international institutes or NGOs to spread the idea of ecological farming.
Selen Caglayik Eloglu (Turkey)
Selen
Photo: Geir Lieblein
Selen came into Agroecology with a background in Archaeology, Art History and Social Anthropology.
After spending time on organic farms as a volunteer, she decided to shift her focus to food and farming systems. She chose the Agroecology program because she wants to learn more about the interaction between humans and the environment, and about sustainable farming practices that could be applied to societies facing change.
Her research interests are rural development, adaptive and regenerative farming, climate change, food security and sovereignty and smallholder sustainability.
Maren Holthe (Norway)
Maren
Photo: Maren Holthe
Maren Holthe is 28 years old Norwegian and is in the first semester of the Agroecology master. Her background contains a bachelor degree in Biology from Ås, agronomy studies, then working for three years on two dairy farms while studying organic farming part time.
The reason for studying Agroecology is to learn how to see agriculture as part of society, how different approaches might create a sustainable agriculture and to get a broader perspective on how agriculture influences everyday life. In the second semester more agricultural subjects are chosen for study, like fertilizing planning, plant nutrition, cropping systems, and also sustainable agriculture and the environment.
The master thesis topic is not decided upon yet, but the goal of becoming an agricultural advisor may lead the thesis towards practical agricultural issues.
Anders Lerberg Kopstad (Norway)
Anders
Photo:
Being the ninth generation at the family farm in Ringerike, Anders wishes to continue the farming and forestry into a viable future. Through a master in agroecology, he hopes to become more conscious as a farmer in order to take on future environmental challenges.
Anders holds a bachelor in design and architecture from the National academy of the Arts, in addition to agricultural engineering studies. He also holds experience from carpentry and different farming practices both conventional and ecological.
Anders hopes to combine his previous skill in the search for new solutions to complex problems at farm level in order to contribute to solving environmental problems on a higher level.
Nguyen Ngoc Thanh (Vietnam)
Thanh
Photo: Thanh Nguyen
My name is Thanh. My B.Sc. major is agronomy, including plants, animals and aquaculture. I used to help farmers to protect and enhance their crops within conventional agriculture. So, I decide to study Agroecology because the agroecology courses will help me gain knowledge and skills that I can use to contribute to sustainable agricultural development.
I like to research biodiversity with relation to existence and interaction of all species such as plants, animals, microorganism within ecosystems. Therefore, I will go to Sweden to study interactions between cropping systems with external biological elements for the second semester. The third semester, I will learn about project management and expand on the application of agroecology in France.
Overall, the agroecology courses will help me improve the food quality as well as food security for the local sustainable agricultural development in local areas and in the world in general.
Anita Nipen (Norway)
Anita
Photo: Meagan Fairbairn
Before I came to UMB, I studied environmental science in Halifax, Canada. Through my studies, I realised the need of living in harmony with nature. Outside my studies, I was part of the local food movement.
I saw the agroecology programme as an opportunity for me to develop so that I can have an active role in the food system while having environmental consideration. I am particularity interested in recycling human waste, community empowerment, farming with environmental integrity through innovation and organic practices. I hope to establish a little farm of my own in the near future.
Sarah Obellianne (France)
Sarah
Photo: Geir Lieblein
I come from a school of agriculture in France and have some experience in organic farming practices. I chose the master in agroecology in order to get a broad understanding of the global food system. I liked the first semester in Norway where I worked on real-life cases with an international team.
The second semester I am going to the US where my studies will focus on cropping systems, soil sciences, world hunger and malnutrition. Later I would like to help farmers to have more sustainable farming system and then, why not start my own farm.
Hélène Proix (France)
Helene
Photo: Geir Lieblein
Hélène Proix studied engineering agriculture for three year before applying for MSc Agroecology. She is interested in everything related to agricultural production and has some practical experience in farming.
She wants to help organic and conventional farmers to rely on their natural and social environment in order to reach their goals of increasing sustainability. This is why she decided to study Agroecology which gave her a broader understanding of agroecosystems.
2009
Helene Austvoll (Norway)
Helene
Photo: GL
Helenechose Agroecology because she believes it will be an important career for the future. She wants to learn more about sustainable agriculture, farming and food systems and their interactions with production, economics, environmental and social aspects.
Gaëlle Bernard (France)
Gaelle
Photo: GL
Gaëllestudied horticulture for four years before choosing Agroecology. She wanted to have a broader approach to and understanding of agriculture, taking into account social, cultural and environmental contexts. She is interested in rural development and would like to do her Master thesis in this field.
Joshua Cabell (USA)
Josh
Photo: GL
Joshua chose to study agroecology because it brings together two of his passions - natural history and ecological farming. He focused on ecology, natural history, conservation and ecological design during his Bachelor's degree and worked for several years in the field of environmental and outdoor education, exploring the endless wonders of nature with kids. The inspiration for shifting his focus to agriculture came during a permaculture design course and from seeing first-hand examples of traditional, low input, high yielding farming practices in the mountains of Morocco where he lived for two years. For his thesis he wants to explore the potential for forest gardens to simultaneously produce food, mitigate and respond to climate change, and provide ecosystem services and livelihoods to rural communities.
David Dudek (USA)
David
Photo: GL
David first became interested in agroecology in 2005 while researching a Norway based, English language Master of Science study of applied ecology. Previously a microbrewer and brewing scientist by trade, his bachelor's degree in biology was focused on liberal arts, botany, and microbiology. David is working with a manipulative weed harrowing experiment for his thesis work, and in addition to crop weeds and weed ecology, some of his other interests include agroecosystems ecology, urban agriculture, and global change ecology.
Guillemette Fruchard (France)
Guillemette
Photo: GL
An idealist, Guillemette applied for the Agroecology MSc to learn how to make the world a bit better. After completing a BSc in agriculture, food systems and the environment, she wanted to complete a degree that focused more on learning by doing and the direct application of theory to practice. She would like to get more knowledge in organic farming in tropical area and hopes to travel to Madagascar to study the traditional farming practices and diffusion of new knowledge during her thesis.
Hanna Karlsson (Sweden)
Hanna
Photo: GL
How we produce food today and how this production affects human beings and the environment is very interesting and important for Hanna. She has a Bachelor in Rural Development and wants to learn more about agriculture with a multidisciplinary approach.
Elias Miriti (Kenya)
Elias
Photo: GL
Elias would like to build on his agriculture and human ecology background by gaining knowledge and skills in agronomic, ecological, economic and social aspects of activities related to farming and food systems. He feels that these, coupled with the necessary attitudes and creativity, will make him competent in managing complexity and change in the real-life situations he will face after the degree. He is interested in food distribution and consumption and would like to do further research on these topics.
Amin Mousavijahromi (Iran)
Amin
Photo: GL
Amin has a background in agricultural engineering and agronomy. His agroecological interests are to obtain new and advanced knowledge regarding organic agriculture and sustainable development in ecosystems and to become familiar with, analyze and improve food systems. His research interest is in the field of plant ecology and the impact of environmental stresses on agricultural crops such as chilling, freezing and UV stresses. In addition, he has a keen interest in the effects of climate changes and greenhouse gases on crops, agricultural products and food systems.
Hana Nelson (Canada)
Hana
Photo: GL
Hanna studied Biology and International Development Studies. She chose to the Agroecology program because she is interested in the principals of sustainability and how agriculture can participate in achieving these goals. She is also particularly interested in issues of nutrition and food security. She hopes to go on to work in the area of food justice and improving accessibility to healthy, nutritious food.
Alice Odoul (France)
Alice
Photo: GL
Alice is a student in an engineering program focused on agriculture, environment and food sciences. She would like to play a role in the changes that agriculture will face in the coming decades by supporting more sustainable agriculture at a local, national or international level. She hopes that the Agroecology Master program will help her to analyze and improve the sustainability of food systems. She is considering a thesis project that combines social and environmental dimensions in relation to food production in Latin America.
Arnaud Passard (France)
Arnaud
Photo: Geir Lieblein
Arnaud applied to the double degree in Agroecology to improve his knowledge and analytical capacity in sustainable food/farming systems through a professionally-oriented, full-time program in English in order to learn how to deal with a rapidly changing future. He is expecting to acquire tools and the ability to manage complex situations at different scales in agricultural, food and environmental topics by gaining a deeper theoretical knowledge combined with practical fieldwork. He is interested in involving permaculture in his thesis work.
Mathilde Pinot (France)
Matilde
Photo: GL
Matilde previously studied the functioning of the global food industry and its corresponding industrial issues. She now wishes to study a science that is better able to encompass the economic, biophysical and social sides of the food system, and which includes methods to tighten feedback loops in food systems. She expects to work in an extension institution to both lead changes in farmers’ practices and improve consumer education.
