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The University of Tennessee | Institute of Agriculture

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

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Courses In Department

Agricultural & Resource Economics (AREC)

 

110 Opportunities in Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (1) Overview of current issues and career opportunities for majors and non-majors. Fall.

201 Economics of the Global Food and Fiber System (4) Introduction to microeconomic and macroeconomic principles and their application to the global food and fiber system. Specific topics include consumer and producer behavior, market equilibrium, monetary and fiscal policy, and international trade. Fall and Spring. Satisfies General Education Requirement: (SS)

212 The Agribusiness Firm (3) Introduction to agribusiness firm characteristics and decision-making. Overview of economic principles and the basic functions of management: planning, organizing, controlling and directing. Specific topics include firm structure, forecasting, marketing and selling, budgeting, break-even analysis, use of financial statements, capital investment, supervision, staffing, and evaluation. Fall and Spring.

310 Career Planning and Placement (1) Career planning, job markets in the agricultural industry, and techniques to obtain employment including recruitment/placement services, resume construction, personal interviewing, and job offer evaluation/analysis. Fall.

315 Agricultural and Environmental Law (3) Survey of legal topics related to agriculture and the natural environment. Topics include introduction to legal system, torts, property, contracts, farm and business organization, environmental and natural resource regulation, estate planning and effective utilization of legal counsel. Fall.

320 Microeconomics of Agriculture, Food and Resources (3) Application of microeconomics to agriculture. Production, consumption, firm behavior, and efficiency in the food and fiber industries. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201. Fall.

324 Quantitative Methods in Agricultural Economics (3) Quantitative analytical tools used in economics and business. Simple and multiple linear regression techniques applied to economic data. Analysis of cross-section and time series date. Optimization techniques applied to economic and business decisions. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201, Statistics 201. Coreq: AREC 320. Spring.

342 Farm Business Management (3) Principles and procedures for determining most profitable business organizations and systems of operation; attention to traditional and nontraditional agricultural enterprises and businesses; nature of managerial processes; business records and their uses; budgeting; acquisition and management of capital, land, labor and machinery; farm business planning. Prereq: AREC 212 and Accounting 200. Spring.

350 The Food and Agricultural Marketing System (3) Survey of U.S. food and fiber marketing system; marketing functions; industry structure; market channels; marketing options of farmers; basic analysis of marketing problems. Prereq: AREC 201, Economics 201, AREC 212. Spring.

355 Agribusiness Marketing and Professional Selling (3) Role of marketing in the agribusiness organization, planning marketing efforts, and the strategic selling process. Topics include identification of market opportunities, targeting, marketing mix, and personal selling in agribusiness. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201. Spring.

356 Marketing Team Participation (1-2) Participation in the development of a total marketing plan for a product sold to or by farmers. Includes product identification, market research, and development of an action plan including an extensive promotional plan, financial analysis, and evaluation. Requires preparation of final plan for presentation in written, oral and visual formats. Plan presented in national competition during the National AgriMarketing Conference. May be repeated up to a maximum of 6 hours. Prereq: Consent of instructor. Fall and Spring.

410 Senior Seminar (1) Practice of critical thinking, ethical behavior, teamwork, and conflict resolution within the content of agribusiness decision-making. Analysis of contemporary issues in the field of agricultural economics. Fall.

412 Agricultural Finance (3) Macro-finance, financial objectives, acquisition of debt and equity funds, capital investments, capital allocation, debt repayment, credit analysis, borrower and lender loan application analysis, insurance strategies, computer applications, kinds and sources of agricultural credit, and financial intermediation. Prereq: AREC 212 and Accounting 200. Fall.

420 International Agricultural Trade and Marketing (3) Introduction to real and monetary aspects of international trade effect on agricultural commodity flows; partial equilibrium analysis of international trade in agricultural products; institutional aspects of international marketing of agricultural products. Prereq: AREC 320. Spring.

430 Food and Agricultural Policy (3) Values, goals and policy process. Economic rationale and effects of policy. Historical development and current characteristics of commodity, credit, food, and trade policy. Prereq: AREC 320. Fall.

442 Agribusiness Management (3) Applications of advanced decision analysis concepts and tools to analyze management decision problems in farm and nonfarm agribusiness settings. Case study work on strategic planning; assessing cost structure using budgeting and breakeven analysis; evaluating profitability, liquidity, and solvency using financial statements; analyzing investments using capital budgeting; etc. AREC 212 and Accounting 200. Spring.

444 Economics of Precision Farming Technologies (3) Economic rationale for precision farming technologies. Topics include technology adoption, production economics, development of decision-making tools and the use of spatial data for management of crop production systems. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201, AGRN 290. Spring.

445 Economics of Biomass for Renewable Energy (3) Overview of the economics of renewable energy and the potential role for biomass. Assessment of the economic, environmental, and policy forces that are shaping the bioenergy industry. Exploration of methods for evaluating the economic feasibility of bioenergy feedstock production, logistics, and conversion. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201.Fall

460 Rural Economic Development (3) Use of economic principles in understanding rural economic development at community and regional levels, emphasizing the linkages between rural and urban communities, business location decisions, and how geography shapes markets. Integrating historical and current information, students will explore efficiency and equity as driving forces behind public and private sector policy to encourage, manage and forecast domestic and international development. Prereq: AREC 320. Fall

470 Policy Analysis for Environmental and Natural Resource Management (3) Application of a policy analysis framework to conflicts and issues associated with natural resource use and related environmental quality impacts. Design of institutional changes to improve economic efficiency and equity, with emphasis on the potential applicability of market-type and incentive-based policy mechanisms. Prereq: AREC 201 or Economics 201. Spring.

472 Natural Resource Economics (3) Economic analysis of natural resource use and conservation with emphasis on land, water and other renewable resources. Principles for benefit-cost analyses of natural resource projects and policies. Methods for valuation of non-market impacts associated with natural resource use. Sustainability as an economic concept. Prereq: AREC 320. Fall.

492 Off-Campus Internship (1-3) Pre-approved supervised experience with firm or organization in the field. May be repeated for a different experience up to a maximum of 6 hours. Prereq: Junior standing or consent of advisor. S/NC.

493 Independent Study (1-3) Directed individual or team research and report writing. Special courses in specific topics. Student must arrange with instructor before registering. May be repeated up to a maximum of 6 hours. Maximum 6 hours. Prereq: Junior standing.