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Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

CFAES

Department to Offer New Undergrad Agribusiness Project Experience Course

Feb. 19, 2014

Beginning in Autumn 2014, AEDE will offer its Agribusiness and Applied Economics undergrad students a new course focused on engaging with agribusinesses to solve real-world problems. The course, “AED Economics 4193: Agribusiness Project Experience”, will be taught jointly by Dr. Eugene Jones and Dr. Brian Roe.

The course aims to provide students the opportunity to apply the skills they’ve learned in the program thus far, including principles of management, marketing, finance and record keeping, to projects defined by participating agribusiness firms. In total, representatives from several firms will participate, engaging directly with students on a real-world issue their company is currently facing.

In the course syllabus the instructors note, “Firms today face many challenges and these challenges are becoming more intense as the world’s population expands and places increased pressure on a fixed supply of nonrenewable natural resources.  With the world’s population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, it is projected that the global food system will need to produce as much food over the next 50 years as it did over the previous 10,000.  Further, an international organization predicts that 70% of this food production will come from technological change, suggesting a need for agribusiness firms to adapt to innovation and change.”

Working in teams of 4 to 5 people with direction from the participating firms, students will spend the semester developing an innovative solution to a problem faced by an agribusiness firm.  The goal is to not only give students practical field experience in the agricultural industry and connect them with agribusiness representatives, but to also help agribusinesses prepare for industry challenges on the horizon. At the end of the semester students will submit a final report and give a presentation outlining their findings.

The class will meet from 5:30-6:50pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Agricultural Administration Building, Room 246. Required prerequisites include AEDE3101, AEDE 3103, and a faculty interview. The course syllabus can be downloaded here.

For questions regarding the course, please contact Dr. Jones (jones.73@osu.edu) or Dr. Roe (roe.30@osu.edu). Autumn registration begins on Monday, March 24th. 

February 19, 2014