Food & Agribusiness - MS (FAB)

The purpose of this course is two-fold: for students to enhance their intrapersonal perspective of management and leadership as well as their understanding of individuals and teams within organizational systems. We adopt the viewpoint of upper level managers, owners, and or board members; we explore human interaction through theory concepts and application. With the use of academic and live case studies students will diagnose, formulate, and develop recommendations for complex situations to enhance organizational performance. Specific emphasis is placed on the fundamentals of organizational behavior with regard to agricultural cooperatives, family owned businesses, family boards, and leadership within the foods system. 3 credits, Fall or Spring, Online. Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or instructor's approval.

This course provides students with foundational statistical and optimization methods used in agribusiness. Methods include probabilistic reasoning, calculation of functional extrema, ordinary least squares, maximum likelihood, experimental design, and hypothesis testing. Students apply material to agribusiness data using R software. Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or instructor's approval. 3 credits. Fall or Spring. Online.

Students gain the ability to process real-world experiences and observations through the lens of subtle statistical models. Topics are chosen that are commonly successfully used in business and social sciences, economics, and agriculture. Applications focus on agribusiness and the food system. Students exit the course with enhanced abilities to use information for business and policy decision making, and will be able to apply state-of-the-art statistical models to business, economic, and social science data. Prerequisite: FAB 510 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness and the Food System with a C or better 3 credits. Fall or Spring. Online.

Powerful frameworks for strategic decision making and understanding food and other agricultural markets are surveyed. Focus is on agribusiness issues and applications. Typical topics include demand and production analysis, factor input decisions such as labor, capital, and production inputs, general and partial equilibrium analysis, price aggregation, game theory, monopolist and oligopolist behavior, agricultural cooperatives, product differentiation, asymmetric information, advertising, R&D, and price discrimination. 3 credits. Online.

Learn the fundamentals of how food gets distributed from farm to table. Develop the skills needed to effectively manage perishable inventory. Topics include the structure of the food system, perishable inventory management, the bullwhip effect, price transmission, control and coordination in food and agricultural supply chains, food safety, traceability, sustainability, and food waste. Prerequisite: FAB 510 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness and the Food System with a C or better 3 credits. Online.

This course is the study of financial management applied to problems and opportunities faced by firms which operate in the food and agricultural sectors. Financial management, performance measurements, long- and short-term investment analysis, capital structures, risk management, credit risk assessments, lender-borrower relationships, financial contracting, and leasing vs ownership will be applied to the agribusiness decision making. We will go well beyond the introductory period and actually use financial tools to better manage the decision-making process. Prerequisite: FAB 510 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness and the Food System with a C or better3 credits. Online.

This course is the study of applied personnel management as faced by firms which operate in the food and agricultural sectors. Emphasis is placed on the unique aspects of labor laws, labor management, compensation, productivity, performance, recruitment, training, development, and terminating employees with regard to a multicultural workforce. Course includes application through the use of reproduced and live case problems. Prerequisite: FAB 510 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness and the Food System with a C or better3 Credits. Online.

Food label regulation is necessary for efficient markets that provide maximize net benefits to both consumers and producers. Students develop a keen understanding of the subtle messaging on food packaging through analysis of consumer perceptions of food product attributes, private and public benefits and costs of labeling, and the goals of government policy with respect to nutrition, health and food safety, and consumer and producer rights. Students consider the policy and economic implications of food labels and learn how to develop food labels for food brands. The rationale and rules of government food label regulations are discussed and debated. Topics include the economic analysis of food labels, food label requirements, nutrition and health claims, misbranding, adulteration, third part verification, bioterrorism, religious and dietary labeling, and the past and future of food labeling. 3 credits. Online.

Students construct creative marketing plans for food products. Marketing decisions are supported by methodical analysis of the marketing environment and consumer behavior. Factors specific to food markets are studied in high detail and used to practice strategic, creative decision making. 3 credits. Online.

Understand the needs and reasons for policy, mechanisms for program implementation and administration, and analytical and evaluation tools to assess agricultural and food policy. Topics are motivated by a systems approach to agricultural production and food distribution, and include U.S. farm policy goals and programs, U.S. trade and international development policy, environmental policy options and consequences, food assistance and nutrition policy, and consumer-driven policy issues regarding food systems. 3 credits. Online.

Students and faculty delve deep into a special topic or project germane to the food and fiber system. High levels of participation are expected. Seminars may include paper readings and discussions, industry studies, business studies, research projects, marketing projects, data analysis, guest speakers, and lectures. Topics and credits will change each semester at the discretion of the instructor. The purpose is to provide a forum in which students and professors can apply expertise to fresh topics on a continuing basis. Contact FAB program coordinator for details before enrolling. 1 credits (Course is repeatable for credit up to 3 times provided content differs). Online.

Students and faculty work closely together on student Master’s Projects. Students learn how to formulate a research question, research design, acquire data, manage a project, present results, craft a report or article, construct a narrative, and distribute `outputs. Food and Agribusiness (FAB) Master’s Students are required to pass either FAB 680 or FAB 690, but not both. Prerequisites: FAB 500, 510 and 530 with a C or better. 3 Credits. Online.

Graduate students, working in consulting teams, will act as top managers to apply the concepts and tools they have developed in Food and Agribusiness (FAB) courses to an agribusiness of their choice. Consulting teams will analyze an agribusiness organization, make recommendations to enhance the competitiveness of the organization, and students will present their implementation plan to the organizations’ top executives. FAB Master’s students are required to pass either FAB 680 or FAB 690, but not both. Prerequisites: FAB 500, 510 and 530 with a C or better.3 credits. Online.

Students conduct projects to fulfill the requirements of Master of Science (MS) in Food and Agribusiness (FAB) under the advisement of the student’s Project or Capstone MS Committee Members. Faculty prepare students for professional advancement beyond FAB. Credits are determined by faculty to reflect the workload of the student. Repeatable. Prerequisite: Second Year Graduate Student. 1-6 credits. Online.