208-236 Intoduction to Agribusiness

This subject introduces breadth and depth of the agribusinesses system by product, market and stage of the value chain, the importance of agribusiness in the Australian and world economies, and major issues and key performance measures for businesses in the agribusiness system.

Topics include: the agribusiness system by product, market and stage of the value chain; commodity, industrial and branded products; agribusiness in the Australian and world economies; major issues in agribusiness: poverty and nutrition, health and safety, technological change, environmental issues, animal welfare; the changing food consumer: demographics, income and wealth distribution, ethnicity and culture; food retailing: profitability drivers, product range, managing shelf space, buying, pricing/margins, inventory/stockturn, promotion; food processing: product decisions, process engineering principles, product safety and quality, raw material procurement, HRM and industrial relations; the farm input supply industry: industry structure and organisation, farmer industrial buyer behaviour; farm supply retailing; farm input manufacturing; and the agricultural production interface with the processing and input supply sectors.

Two-hour written examination (50%), four field trip reports each of 2000 words (40%), tutorial participation (10%).