Agronomy IV (Legumes) Online Course

Learn to grow a very wide range of legumes primarily as food crops, for humans or animals with the 100 hour course on broadacre legume crops. Legumes are all members of the Fabaceae plant family which range from tall trees to vegetables and fodder plants.

Legumes are some of the most important agronomic crops grown widely, in most countries and climates across the world and legumes are an essential component of the world’s food supply.

This course helps you to better know what to grow, where and how to harvest and store the crops that are farmed.

What will you be able to do when you finish this course?

When you have completed this course, you will understand the many different legume crops that you could grow and the ideal growing conditions for each.

You will finish this course with a level of understanding that can help you start growing legume crops, or as start to your agronomy career. This course is also ideal for professional development for those wanting to diversify their crop knowledge or for businesses that support the agriculture industry.

You will Learn:

• Discuss commercial farming of Legumes
• Explain different types of pea crops
• Explain how to grow beans
• Explain how to grow edible lupins
• Explain how to grow an alfalfa crop
• Explain the importance and growing of soybean crops
• Explain the cultivation of chickpea crops
• Explain how to grow a range of other legume food crops
• Explain how legume crops are processed and used

Detailed Course Outline

This course is made up a number of lessons or units. Each of these has self assessment questions, a set task (practical homework) and an assignment which you can upload online.

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of Legume Cropping

• • Taxonomy of legumes
  • Brief history of legume use
  • Significance of Legume Crops
  • Food plants for people
  • Food plants for animals
  • Soil improvers
  • Amenity plants
  • Industrial crops
  • Weeds
  • Legume cover crops
  • Inoculation of Legumes
  • Legumes today
  • Shade & Salt Tolerant Cover Crops

2. Peas

• • Introduction
  • Cultivars
  • Snap Peas
  • Green Peas
  • Appearance
  • Cultivation
  • Climate
  • Soil and Fertility
  • Land and Seed Bed Preparation
  • Planting Material
  • Inoculation
  • Plant Spacing
  • Trellising
  • Nutrient Management
  • Irrigation
  • Weed Control
  • Harvesting

3. Growing Beans

• • Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) -Classification, Growing Conditions, Climate, Soil, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Pest and Disease
  • Management
  • Varieties – bush, climbing
  • Harvesting
  • Storage
  • Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus) – Growing Conditions, Climate, Soil, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Pest and Disease, Varieties
  • Lima Beans (Phaseolus lunatus) – Growing Conditions, Planting, Harvesting, Varieties.
  • Broad Bean (Vicia faba)- Growing Conditions, Soil, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Harvesting, Crop Rotation, Pest and Disease, Varieties
  • Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus) – Growing Conditions, Climate, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Pest and Disease, Varieties
  • Snake Bean (Vigna unguiculate ssp sesquipedalis) – Growing Conditions, Climate, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Pest and Disease
  • Mung Bean (Vigna radiata) Growing Conditions, Climate, Soil, Land preparation, Sowing, Planting, Irrigation, Nutrition, Weeds, Harvesting, Drying, Storage, IPM, Pest and Disease,
  • Land Management

4. Growing Lentils

• • Planting Lentils
  • How to Plant
  • Soil, Watering and Fertiliser
  • Nurturing the Plants
  • Diseases
  • Pests
  • Harvesting

5. Growing Lupins

• • Lupin plant structure -leaves, stem, branches, roots, flower, pod, seed
  • Lupin Growing Cycle -germination phases
  • Benefits of Lupin Crops
  • Factors affecting Lupin Growth
  • Seed Quality
  • Sowing Lupins
  • Pod Growth
  • Harvesting
  • Sources for seed growth
  • Factors Affecting Seed Development – moisture, temperature
  • Fertilisers
  • Pests

6. Growing Alfalfa

• • How to grow alfalfa at home
  • Lucerne Cropping
  • Soil type
  • Fertility Management
  • Plant Variety
  • Planting Crops
  • Seeding Depth
  • Crop Management
  • Irrigation
  • Disease and Insect Management
  • Harvesting Lucerne

7. Soybeans

• • Planting Soybean Crops
  • Modern Farming Practices (eg. Zero tilling)
  • Soil Management
  • Variety Selection
  • Planting Soybeans
  • Plant Growth and Physiology
  • Nutrition and Fertiliser
  • Nutritional Deficiency
  • Weed Control
  • Pest Control
  • Harvesting Soybeans

8. Growing Chickpeas

• • Crop Preparation
  • Weed Control
  • Soil Preparation
  • Soil Moisture
  • Diseases
  • Chickpea Varieties -Desi Type, Kabuli Type
  • Planting Chickpeas
  • Plant Growth and Physiology
  • Nutrition and Fertiliser
  • Harvest

9. Other Legumes

• • Peanut
  • Inga (Ice Cream Bean)
  • Tamarind
  • Carob
  • Acacia (Wattle seed)
  • Clovers and Annual Medics
  • Growing Clovers
  • Clover Species
  • Medics

10. Processing and Using Legumes

• • Storage Planning
  • Silo Options
  • Grain Storage Bags
  • Bunkers
  • Underground Pits
  • Calculating Costs
  • Variable Costs of On Farm Storage
  • Aeration Cooling
  • Repairs and Maintenance
  • Time & Labour
  • ROI Investment Analysis
  • Safety
  • Grain Storage and Insect Management
  • Storing Lentils
  • Storing Soybeans
  • Storing Chickpeas
  • Storing Peanuts
  • Storing Faba Beans
  • Storing Field Peas

When you have completed the lessons of your Certificate course, you will be given the option of taking the optional exam. It’s okay if you don’t want the exam, we still issue your Careerline Certificate. For Advanced Certificates however, the exam is compulsory (per module) and are included in the course fee.