Agricultural Business Management

Units: 3

Introduction to economic principles of marginal benefits and costs with application to consumer and producer decisions. Functions of market exchange systems in determining prices and quantities and creation of wealth. Property rights and opportunities for exchange. Role of government in dealing with agricultural and resource problems. Macroeconomic analysis including inflation, unemployment, money and banking system. Credit will not be given for both ARE 201 and either EC 201 or EC 205.

GEP: Social Sciences

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

Analytical and planning techniques for making business decisions centered around farm business applications. Economic principles and management concepts such as budgeting, accounting, finance credit, investment analysis, business organization, risk,and taxes as related to practical problems of operating a farm business.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Management decision-making by food, fiber, horticulture, and forestry firms. Emphasis on current agribusiness topics such as information utilization, strategic planning, organization structures, competitor intelligence, pricing, leadership, crisis management, ethics, and human resource management. Business communications, agribusiness case studies, and a computerized management simulation game.

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

Legal principles of practical importance in an agricultural setting: the court system; tort, contract and real and personal property law; legal aspects of organizing an agribusiness; environmental and labor regulations affecting agriculture; income and estate taxation of agriculture. Credit for both ARE 306 and BUS 307 is not allowed

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

Current federal and state environmental laws and regulations and their common law foundations. Relationship of the law and its regulatory mechanisms to economic policy issues: externalities, pollution taxes, incentives, permit trading, and cost-benefit analysis. Major environmental topics including water and wetlands, solid and hazardous wastes, pesticides, clean air, endangered species and nuisance actions. Overview of the legal system.

GEP: Social Sciences

Offered in Fall and Summer

Units: 3

Agricultural marketing system and economic forces affecting its structure and efficiency. Public policy issues affecting agricultural markets. Emphasis on the analysis of current sources of agricultural market information. Marketing and storage problems over time; futures markets and the management of risk; transportation and international trade; government agricultural programs.

GEP: Social Sciences

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Application of marketing and economic principles to decision making in contemporary agribusiness firms. Marketing strategies, marketing research and information, segmentation and targeting, marketing mix, and market plans within food, fiber, natural resource, and production input industries. Professional selling skills and knowledge. Off-campus field experience and visiting lecturers from the agribusiness industry.

Offered in Fall and Spring

Units: 3

Record keeping for small businesses organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and family held corporations. Double entry accounting principals applied to service and merchandising businesses. General Journals, Combination Journals, Subsidiary Journals, Ledgers, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Posting, Worksheets. Financial Statements, Closing, Payrolls, Cost Basis, Depreciation, Section 179, Amortization, Financial Adjustments, and Income Tax Forms. Both manual and computerized systems. Semester project of keeping records for a business for a portion of the year.

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

ARE 323 teaches the history of monetary systems, the development of business finance tools and banking, and detailed creation and use of business financial statements, including Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Statements of Cash Flow, within the context of the agribusiness industry. Two Finance courses are offered in the Agribusiness Management Major: ARE 321 - Agricultural Financial Management, which focuses on the history of finance in agriculture and financial planning for farmers and similar independent agricultural enterprises; and ARE 323 - Agribusiness Finance, which focuses on finance for larger agribusinesses and for managers of agribusiness divisions in larger organizations.

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

General introduction to human resource management in agribusinesses. Skills for agribusiness owners for efficient productivity from employees in a legal and ethical manner. Topics on labor economics, human resource legislation, employee planning and recruitment, and migrant labor issues. Emphasis on techniques for training, motivating, leading, and disciplining employees.

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 3

Ethical behavior is a crucial issue in American business, especially after numerous ethical lapses over the past decade, and for agribusiness given claims of marketing unhealthy foods, development of genetically-modified organisms, hiring of undocumented workers, and consolidation into industrial production facilities. Students are taught ethical theories and frameworks, used to discuss general ethical questions such as death, theft, and lying, followed by the more specific agribusiness issues mentioned above. Students will formulate their own opinions about these issues, recognize and understand the opinions of others, and be able to accurately and adequately communicate those opinions.

Offered in Fall and Spring

Units: 1 - 6

Presentation of material not normally available in regular course offerings or offering of new courses on a trial basis.