This course will provide students the opportunity to study the marketing system for agricultural commodities. Students learn to analyze topics related to market structure, supply, demand, price, price analysis, trade, spatial relationships, market price variation through time, institutional arrangements, and public policy as they relate to agricultural marketing. Additionally, the concept of futures markets is introduced as a tool for price risk management. Theoretical economic frameworks covered in this class are applied to the commodities relevant to the Columbia Basin.
Prerequisites
ECON& 201 Micro Economics.
Quarters Offered
Spring
Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge or skills:
- Complete an agriculture futures market simulation.
- Predict market outcomes applying economic principles.
- Investigate the market structure, production, processing, retailing, and consumption of various agricultural commodities and products.
- Explain the function of spatial market relationships including the role of transportation, logistics, and geographical market boundaries.
- Analyze how advertising, product development, and value-added goods function in agricultural marketing.
- Identify critical technologies used in agricultural supply chains.
- Evaluate the structure of agricultural cooperatives and bargaining organizations and the impacts of price discrimination from various market structures.
Course Content Outline
- Economic Principles & Agricultural Marketing
- Supply & Demand Analysis
- Market Structure & Types of Organizations
- Pricing Mechanisms, Futures, Hedging
- Trade
- Exchange Rates
- Government Programs
- Product Processing and Market Standards
- Receiving, Packing, Processing, Grading, Quality Controls
- Technology
- FSMA and GAP
- Markets in Space
- Geographic Market Boundaries
- Spatial Price Relationships
- Transportation & Logistics
- Cooperatives
Department Guidelines
Course may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Students will be evaluated and graded on exams, homework assignments, and in-class group assignments
- Students will evaluated on their participation in Commodity Challenge, a market simulation exercise