Explore Sustainable Livestock Production at Montana State University! Hands-on training and scholarships available for international students. Apply now!
Program Description The Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems (SFBS) program offers an interdisciplinary, hands-on curriculum focused on the ecological, cultural, economic, and health aspects of food and bioenergy systems from production through consumption. The degree plan is intended to prepare and motivate students as agents of change to address society’s most pressing food and bioenergy issues towards sustained environmental and human well-being. Students of the program are provided with broad interdisciplinary training founded on a core SFBS curriculum while gaining disciplinary training by selecting one of four program options housed in either the College of Agriculture, or the College of Education, Health and Human Development: (1) Sustainable Food Systems, (2) Agroecology, (3) Sustainable Crop Production and, (4) Sustainable Livestock Production. The SFBS program seeks to enhance students’ practical and critical thinking skills to approach food systems through service-based learning internships, hands-on production, training on research methods, independent and group projects, story-telling, and community engagement. Students must receive a grade of "C" or higher in all required courses as outlined in the major. Sustainable Livestock Production Option Sustainable Livestock Production focuses on the biological understanding of animal agriculture and its continued presence in sustainable grazing systems as well as its potential role in sustainable farming systems. Students will be introduced to the principles, practices and issues impacting the production, processing and preservation of safe, wholesome, nutritious, and palatable meat along with the regulatory requirements for selling animal products. Sustainable Livestock Production focuses on the science of animal production but expands students' learning to a larger system of understanding, including the role of domestic livestock in sustainable systems. In addition, students will be exposed to the role of strategic grazing in landscape management as well as using livestock to manage potential waste streams from other industries.
