Print this Page

Home ›

Department of Agricultural Economics

COURSES

• Economic Principles (AG EC)
• Farm Management (AG EC)
• Agribusiness Management (AG EC)
• Financial Planning (AG EC)
• Agricultural Development (AG EC)
• Public Policy (AG EC)
• Product Marketing (AG EC)
• Decision Analysis (AG EC)
• Special Topics (AG EC)
• Agricultural Business (AG BS) --- Graduate Courses
• Agriculture (AGRI) --- In-Service Cousres

Note: Active immunization against tetanus (available through Student Health Services) is a prerequisite for registration in any laboratory course in agriculture and for any student employment on the University Farm.

Note: Cost to the student of extended field trips will vary each semester depending upon itinerary. The student should ask the course instructor.

Economic Principles (AG EC)

1. Introductory Agricultural Economics (3)
Microeconomic principles of resource allocation, production, cost, and market price equilibrium with primary application to farms and agribusinesses. Supply and demand in commodity pricing under perfect and imperfect competition. Optimizing single variable input production function; total/marginal approaches to profit maximizing output. G.E. Breadth D3.

2. Agricultural Sector Analysis (3)
Domestic and international forces affecting industry profitability of farm input suppliers, agricultural producers, commodity processors, food marketers; government fiscal, monetary, trade policies interaction with agricultural credit, price support, food subsidy programs; impact on agribusiness asset values, debt accumulation, income levels.

5. Survey of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness (3)
Orientation to agricultural sector, institutions, and historic farm problems. Basic economic concepts and business principles applied to management, marketing, finance, and trade. Consumer demand and producer supply functions. Competitive market price determination. Overview of resource, environmental, consumer, and farming issues and government policies

100. Intermediate Agricultural Economics (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 1; AG EC 78 or DS 71 or MATH 75. Microeconomic theory of agricultural production in factor-product, factor-factor, product-product decisions; production costs and economies of size; consumer choice theory; price and output determination under imperfectly competitive markets; marginal productivity theory and the derived demand for agribusiness inputs.



Farm Management (AG EC)

110N. Introductory Farm Management (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 1, 31, and 76. Survey course for non-agricultural business majors. Introduction to applied economics and farm business management topics: farm accounting, financial statement analysis, management principles, computer assisted decision aids, animal and crop enterprise budgeting, farm business planning, tax management, investment analysis, agricultural finance. (2 lecture, 3 lab hours)

110. Farm Management (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 31, 76, and 100. Production economics and management techniques for analysis of efficient farm resource use, planning and organization; analysis of budgeting and optimization techniques, and computer applications for developing farm management plans. (2 lecture, 3 lab hours) (Computer lab fee, $15)

114. Advanced Farm Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 110. Design, computerization, and analysis of profit maximizing; cost minimizing and multiperiod linear programming models; risk and uncertainty; data and information requirements for decision making; optimizing the level and mix of crop livestock enterprises; development of farm management plans.

117. Agricultural Labor-Management Relations (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Economic analysis of the farm labor market; labor productivity, agricultural mechanization and farm employment; farm labor laws and government regulations; agricultural labor relations, unionization, and collective bargaining; farm personnel administration practices and supervisory management principles.



Agribusiness Management (AG EC)

28. Introductory Agricultural Law (3)
Fundamentals of agricultural law including historical sources; legislative laws and business ethics; administrative regulations, judicial decisions affecting agriculture; express and implied contracts with remedies for their breach in agricultural situations; real and personal property law plus secured transactions in agriculture.

120. Agribusiness Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Organizational forms and management functions of agribusiness firms; human resource management systems; management science principles for optimizing plant location, equipment replacement, inventory control, and sales volume; operations research techniques, including probability-based network and decision models, for solving agribusiness problems.

122. Agricultural Cooperative Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 120. Philosophical, historical, and legislative evolution of U.S. agricultural cooperatives; uniqueness of cooperative organization, planning, direction and control functions vis-a-vis standard corporations; legal, financial, and tax considerations in managing input-supply and marketing cooperatives; case studies and field trips to cooperatives.

124. Food and Fiber Industry Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Production management of farm input manufactures, agricultural commodity processing, food/fiber product distribution; functional approach to transformation/value-added operations including planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling; case applications to materials handling, product development, food packaging, quality control, transportation logistics, inventory management.

128. Advanced Agricultural Law (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 28 or B A 18. Case applications of agricultural business law; torts covering trespass, negligence, liability for farm livestock and chemicals; surface and mineral property rights; water law; farm labor law; agribusiness firm incorporation; agricultural cooperative regulation; state and federal marketing orders; farm estate taxation.



Financial Planning (AG EC)

31. Farm Accounting (3)
Basic concepts and principles of financial accounting systems applied to farm operations; mechanics of recording single and double entry transactions under cash and accrual accounting methods; preparation and analysis of enterprise records and financial statements to generate management information.

32. Agribusiness Managerial Accounting (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 31 or ACCT 4A. Application and analysis of accounting information for farm and agribusiness management; integration of economic, and financial principles in preparing business plans; equipment cost control and crop enterprise accounting methods; capital investment and profit performance; introduction to computerized farm accounting systems. (2 lecture, 1 arranged)

130. Agricultural Finance (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 31 or ACCT 4A; AG EC 76; AG EC 100 or instructor's permission. AG EC 2, 32 recommended. Analysis of farm financial statements; legal instruments of financial transactions; institutional sources of farm credit; time value of money and capital budgeting for agricultural investment; cost of debt and equity capital; risk management strategies; insurance, tax, and farm estate planning.

131. Agricultural Capital Markets (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 2, 130. Public and private financial intermediaries as sources of agricultural capital; the Cooperative Farm Credit System; credit management policies and practices; government policy, the regulatory environment, and competitive financial markets; legal requirements of financial instruments; external equity capital; and lease financing. (Formerly AG EC 185T)

136. Farm and Ranch Appraisal (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 1. AG EC 110 or 110N recommended. Principles of agricultural appraisal; physical and economic factors affecting land values; estimation of real estate value using income, cost, and market data approaches; case studies and field problems involving the valuation of local farm and ranch properties.



Agricultural Development (AG EC)

140. International Development and Agriculture (3)
Comparative development of low- and high-income countries; policies/programs addressing inequality, poverty, malnutrition, disease, overpopulation, underemployment, pollution, globalization; structural, institutional, technological change; investment, trade, and aid strategies for growth; food production and distribution efficiency; environmentally sustainable, culturally compatible, economically viable agricultural systems.




Public Policy (AG EC)

150. Agricultural and Food Policy (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. AG EC 2 recommended. Analysis of public policies affecting the economics of U.S. and California agriculture; government programs influencing agricultural production, commodity distribution, market prices, farm income; environmental and natural resource issues; nutrition, food safety and biotechnology concerns; food industry regulation; international agricultural trade.

153. Agricultural Trade (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 2, 150. Comparative advantage, trade models, protectionist barriers and balance of payments; world agricultural trade patterns and international commodity agreements; domestic farm programs and foreign trade policies; surplus food aid and concessionary sales overseas; trade liberalization versus preferences issue and economic development.

155. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1 or ECON 40. Economic analysis of public policies governing land use, water management, energy generation, mineral exploitation and forest administration; review of population pressures and resource conservation; examination of externalities, property rights issues, resource use planning, agricultural zoning, environmental regulations, and reclamation law.



Product Marketing (AG EC)

66. Agricultural Communications (3)
Agricultural news and information gathering and dissemination to food producers and consumers through print/broadcast media and computer networks; formulation of promotional programs, advertising campaigns, and public relations for agricultural industries and institutions; mass communications writing, editing; simulated electronic presentations. (Formerly AG EC 166)

160. Agricultural Marketing Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 100 or permission of instructor. Commodity transformation and product flow through processing and distribution channels; market structure, conduct and performance; marketing system efficiency and marketing bill components; over supply, marketing orders, grading and standards, and price stabilization; price forecasting, futures market trading, and risk management.

162. Commodity Futures Trading (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 160. Speculation and the price discovery process; fundamental analysis and long-run decisions to hedge; technical analysis and short-run timing of crop/livestock sales; trend line charts utilizing moving averages; trading mechanics, price projection and development of futures trading plans.

163. Agricultural Export Marketing (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 160 or permission of instructor. Determination of potential overseas markets for U.S. agricultural products through export marketing studies; foreign business environment and distribution channels; product preparation and transportation abroad; cultural-specific promotional and advertising programs; international sales agreements, financial transactions, plus banking and shipping documentation.

164. Agribusiness Sales Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Marketing management strategies for stimulating business and consumer demand for agricultural goods and services; food and fiber merchandising using institutional, functional, value approaches; sales program organization and staff development for effective communication of product information and timely completion of transactions.

168. Agricultural Marketing Management Project (1-3; max total 3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 71, 160, 164 and permission of instructor. Marketing management principles in preparing marketing plan for annual National Agri-Marketing Association intercollegiate competition; strategic planning for product development, sales projections, distribution channels, pricing tactics, promotion/advertising, market share analysis; focus group, survey research, oral/audio-visual team presentation. (2 activity hours per unit)



Decision Analysis (AG EC)

71. Agricultural Business Statistics (3)
Prerequisite: ELM requirement met. Study of statistical techniques and formal reasoning applications to management and social and agricultural sciences. Calculation, interpretation, critical evaluation, and historical relevance of quantitative tools, data analysis, and results including graphical presentations, descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis formulation and testing, and regression.

76. Agribusiness Microcomputer Applications (3)
Applied microcomputing for agribusiness management; use of electronic spreadsheet and database management programs in keeping farm records; applications to farm accounting, crop and livestock enterprise management, and business agreements; agricultural financial budgeting, cash flow planning, asset depreciation and tax management. (2 lecture, 3 lab hours)

78. Agribusiness Quantitative Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: ELM requirement met. Functional relationships, marginal analysis and decision-making models in agribusiness; logic and probability in diagnosing problems, designing operations and achieving objectives; identification of procedures for efficient resource utilization.

170. Advanced Agribusiness Applications (3)
Prerequisites: AG EC 110, 120, 130, 150, 160; upper-division writing skills requirement. Research methods applied to agricultural business; problem definition and solution formulation; data collection and analysis using statistics and other techniques. Culminating activities may include research proposal, feasibility study, project review, business plan, strategic management, case study; written reports and oral presentations.



Special Topics (AG EC)

80. Undergraduate Research (1-4; max total 4)
Prerequisites: AG EC 1 and permission of instructor. Directed study or research on particular problems in the field of agricultural economics and business. Consult department policies and procedures governing undergraduate research. Approved for SP grading.

85T. Topics in Agricultural Business (1-3; max total 6)
Agricultural economics, farm management, agribusiness management, financial planning, agricultural development, public policy, product marketing, and decision analysis. Topics may require lab hours.

180. Undergraduate Research (1-4; max total 4)
Prerequisites: senior standing and permission of instructor. Directed study or research on particular problems in the field of agricultural economics and business. Consult department policies and procedures governing undergraduate research. Approved for SP grading.

185T. Topics in Agricultural Business (1-3; max total 9)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Agricultural economics, farm management, agribusiness management, financial planning, agricultural development, public policy, product marketing, and decision analysis. Topics may require lab hours.



Industry Relations (AG EC)

192. Agricultural Business Field Studies (2)
Prerequisite: AG EC 1. Business and economic functions performed by specialized agricultural agencies with emphasis on physical operating patterns. Field trips to production, marketing, and finance firms. Workshops with agribusiness managers. (1 lecture, 2 lab hours) (Field trip fee, up to $75)

194. Agribusiness Internship (1-3; max total 6)
Prerequisites: junior standing. Emphasis on development of decision-making ability through industrial experience integrated with basic principles acquired in the classroom. Only 3 units of internship allowable in the major. CR/NC grading only.

195. Agribusiness Career Seminar (2)
Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of instructor. Career exploration and academic preparation in agribusiness; assessment of personal and professional skills matching agricultural occupational choices; career planning, self-marketing strategies, and job-hunting tactics; resume and letter writing, interview and job-offer negotiations; workshops with industry representatives.

GRADUATE COURSES

(See Course Numbering System and Eligibility.)

Agricultural Business (AG BS)

200. Seminar in Agricultural Business (1; max total 4)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Review of literature related to current agricultural business problems and issues; examination of economic and management models and techniques; written reports, oral presentations, and seminar discussions.

210. Agribusiness Industry Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: classified standing or permission of instructor. Analysis of characteristics unique to agricultural institutions; practices in financing, producing, and marketing food and fiber products; integration of economic principles with management techniques for optimum decision-making under risk and uncertainty; crop/livestock enterprise budgeting; policy environment impact on agriculture.

220. Food Processing and Distribution Management (3)
Prerequisite: AG BS 210. Classified standing or permission of instructor. Analysis of strategic management decisions involving pricing relationships, processing and packaging systems, supply channel management, transportation modes and distribution logistics for agricultural products in domestic and global markets; applications to food industry case problems including international food marketing firms. (Formerly AG BS 225)

240. Agricultural Sector Planning (3)
Prerequisite: AG BS 210. Classified standing or permission of instructor. Economic policies, incentive structures, and resource constraints affecting agricultural development; rural development theories, growth models and sector strategies for increasing farm productivity; design, implementation, and evaluation of technical assistance programs; economic and financial appraisal of public and private investment projects.

250. Agricultural Policy Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: AG BS 210. Classified standing or permission of instructor. Examination of policy-making processes; evaluation of government farm and food programs; determination of industry responses and firm adjustments to changing market structures and government policies; urbanization and other land, air, water resource issues impacting agriculture; geopolitics and agricultural trade policy.

260. Commodity and Food Market Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: AG BS 210. Classified standing or permission of instructor. Economic and institutional relationships in food and fiber markets; commodity futures trading and risk management; derived demand by agribusiness for raw commodities; food industry marketing margins and market price determination; distribution and merchandising strategies; spatial and intertemporal price equilibrium models.

280T. Topics in Agricultural Business (3; max total 6)
Prerequisite: AG BS 210. Classified standing or permission of instructor. Fields of study include: farm management, agribusiness management, financial planning, international agriculture, public policy, and product marketing.

290. Independent Study (1-3; max total 6)
See Academic Placement -- Independent Study. Approved for SP grading.

IN-SERVICE COURSE

(See Course Numbering System.)

Agriculture (AGRI)

300. Topics In Agriculture (1-3; max total 6)
Topics may require lab hours. In-service professional training in selected areas of agriculture.

Agricultural Economics Degrees

Department Page

Courses Menu

Home