Undergraduate Program - Agribusiness Markets and Management

Studies in Agribusiness Markets and Management*

Students in the Agribusiness Markets and Management concentration in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics learn marketing and management skills and meet with industry leaders and managers. This concentration includes many hand-on opportunities for learning, from seminars with visiting executives to internships. Students can study the marketing, pricing and distribution of production inputs and services used by farmers; the marketing and pricing of grain and feed, livestock, and livestock products; and the marketing and pricing of food ingredients and processed food and fiber to businesses and consumers. Students also can study the management firms within these sectors.

Students are prepared for entry level management and marketing positions and are sought by firms involved in the production, marketing, sales, and financing of farm inputs, agricultural commodities, and food ingredients and products.

Career Opportunities

This concentration serves students seeking management and marketing careers in the food and agribusiness sector. Students develop skills in management, strategic planning, and human resource management, and begin their careers as management trainees, sales representatives, technical analysts, or in speciality areas such as marketing, procurement, or finance.

This concentration also offers students interested in buying and selling grain, as a grain merchandiser, an exciting career. Others choose to work at commodity exchanges or with member firms trading commodities or direct marketing positions with chemical, seed, fertilizer, machinery, food ingredient, or food product firms.

“I always liked the business side of farming,” said one student. In this Agribusiness Markets and Management classes, he met executives from agribusiness firms who helped him understand how he might begin a career in management. “The executives we met discussed their own careers, how they prepare for change, what courses they thought would be useful, and what is happening in their firms.”

An Agribusiness Markets & Management student from Naperville had been interested in commodity markets for a long time. “I watched my grandfather trade and I began trading futures contracts while in high school.” Coming to the University of Illinois gave him the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of marketing consumer products and the underpinnings of the futures markets. A summer as a marketing intern with a grain company gave him a “unique experience of dealing with transportation problems presented by the worst flood of the century.” He says “the range of choices in this option, particularly on consumer product marketing and the study of commodities and futures, have really helped prepare me for my new position as a market analyst at the Chicago Board of Trade.”

For more information please contact:
Dr. John B. Braden
304 Mumford Hall
1301 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Phone (217)333-1811
Fax (217)333-5538
jbb@illinois.edu

More details are provided in the ACES Student Handbook.

The University of Illinois provides equal opportunity in programs and employment.

*This curriculum is available effective Fall 2006. The information provided herein is correct to the best of our knowledge as of May 2006. Specific requirements may change as programs and courses evolve. Students considering applying may contact the Department of Agricultureal and Consumer Economics for the most current information.