Undergraduate Agribusiness

Agribusiness has become an important part of undergraduate agricultural economics programs. Will these programs continue to serve the needs of both industry and students in the future? To survive and thrive, agribusiness programs must pursue an aggressive niche strategy. Programs must be more than collections of courses, they must be coordinated, integrated experiences that foster critical thinking and communications skills, develop industry-specific knowledge, and cultivate diversity of thought. The agricultural economics heritage of most programs can be used as a point of difference. Programs must pursue partnerships with industry and other academic programs. Faculty development must be a priority. Undergraduate programs in food and agribusiness management havebecome more important to Departments of Agricultural Economics over the past forty years. The number of agribusiness courses and agribusiness management majors has generally increased, along with the proportion of students taking jobs with off-farm agribusiness firms. Dooley and Fulton; Boland, Lehman, and Stroade; and Heiman et al. suggest that agribusiness is an important part of virtually every agricultural economics undergraduate program in the United States, accounting for almost 69 % of all students i