Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

The Agriculture program is concerned with the preservation of the environment and the biological quality. Agriculture engineers work in the agricultural production and management processes, as well as in forest areas and animal husbandry. They can also provide advisory and consulting services, perform topographic services, certify products, and work with research and outreach in government agencies.

The program includes core courses, specific courses and rural administration courses. In the first three semesters, courses in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are offered. Still in this period, more specific subjects are taught, such as Climatology and Introduction to Agriculture, which prepares the path for the professional part of the program that starts in the fourth semester. This part includes courses in Topography, Soil Science, Agricultural Mechanization, Entomology, Phytopathology, among others.

During the fourth and tenth semesters, students go on internships. In the fourth semester, interns stay for a month in a small sized rural property so as to achieve a clear understanding of the profession. This practice is called “estágio de vivência” (on-farm internship). As it is situated in one of the few Brazilian states where family farms are predominant, the opportunity of learning about this type of farm structure is a characteristic of UFSC Agriculture Program. In the tenth semester, interns should have an experience of the day-to-day practice of the profession in companies, government agencies or in any type of rural property.

In recent years, the profession has gained incentives due to the growth of agribusiness and of public programs aimed at family agriculture and the country’s rural development.