The lessons are organized into five  Teaching  units that cover different approaches in analysis-diagnosis and agricultural development, by spanning local to global fields and scales and crossing from  3theory to practice through field projects with stakeholders.

• Agrarian systems and agricultural development–This teaching unit provides knowledge to understand the diversity of agriculture of the world, its origin and the ways in which they are influenced by economic policies and international markets. Field work  in France enables students to learn while implementing tools and agricultural analysis-diagnosis methods of a region, then to identify the difficulties and obstacles to its sustainable development.
• Agro-ecosystems, ecological intensification and management of natural resources–Based on the challenges of the ecological intensification of agricultural systems, we conduct a process of observation of the functioning of biophysical environments, analyse their interactions with agricultural practices, evaluate their agroecological performance and their environmental impacts. Field work is carried out in the same region as teaching unit 1.
• Collaborative work and support of changes on the farm–This teaching unit aims at designing and supporting technical and/or organizational changes on a farm. The students have hands on experience  by working with a farmer to identify, model and initially assess the technical, organizational and economic impact of a change.

• Work with groups to support transitions–This teaching unit helps to understand the processes of change by groups of stakeholders in rural areas, to acquire collective research methods and tools for solutions, to co-design and model innovations,  and to carry out a reflective analysis on the roles of the involvement with groups. Practical applications are carried out via role-playing and the use of collaborative modelling tools

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• Hands on experience–Before the individual end-of-studies internship, a final teaching unit consists in groups of  students responding  collectively to a request from a client in a region in France or abroad. 

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The programme is open to students who have validated their first year of a master’s programme in a French agro/agri/agribusiness engineering school or the agricultural engineer programme at Montpellier SupAgro. Eligible candidates are:

• students who have validated the 2nd year of a national school of agronomy in France or equivalent under inter-institutional agreements
• engineering students who have validated the 2nd year of an ENITA engineering training programme
• engineering students who have validated the 4th year of a FESIA engineering training programme

To be able to pursue the Resources, agricultural systems and development option, it is strongly recommended:

• For engineering school students: to have followed a 2nd year course whose contents are strongly oriented towards agronomy and farms.
• For Montpellier SupAgro students (engineering courses): to have taken the major, "Towards sustainable agriculture".

Candidates must have at least an equivalent to  Master 1 level, other ways to apply: see below

Admissions

The Resources, Agricultural Systems and Development (RESAD) training prepares engineering and master’s graduates for a wide range of positions in sustainable agricultural development, both in the North and in the South, in the following institutions:

• Development support agencies: territorial, national, multilateral Institutions, extension services, NGOs, donors, foundations...
• Producer organizations, associative and union structures, Chambers of Agriculture, technical institutes
• Higher agricultural training institutions, research centres
• Private sector: consulting firms and companies that are supplied by a variety of producers.

Possibility of continuing with a PhD thesis.

A wide range of jobs in France and abroad.

• Project leader or manager in agricultural development
• Advisor or facilitator (insight 1, insight 2)
• Consultant or study manager (insight 1, insight 2)
• Trainer, teacher, researcher or lecturer after a  PhD (insight)
• Entrepreneur (insight)

Various employers

• Professional agricultural organizations, agricultural development associations, communities territorial authorities, trade unions, chambers of agriculture
• NGOs, Foundations, International Organizations
• Private companies, design offices
• Agricultural training and/or research centers