Abstract:
Despite widespread demand for agribusiness Ph.D. graduates, and numerous departments offering specializations in agribusiness, the agricultural economics profession still lacks a widely accepted specification of �agribusiness� as an academic sub-field. This ambiguity not only limits any assessment of agribusiness Ph.D.-level training, but also undermines the academic endeavors of those interested in pursuing agribusiness-focused research and graduate instruction. Yet, most agricultural economics Ph.D. students, particularly those who self-identify as having a specialization in agribusiness, have had some exposure to many, but
certainly not all, of the core subject areas and research methods germane to the sub-field. For example, numerous Departments of Agricultural Economics are offering courses that cover strategic management, finance, and supply chain management subject areas (57% of students responded they had at least one class within the department on these subjects). What appears to be widely missing is coursework in human resource management (7% of students indicated they had a class in this subject) and certain analytic techniques, particularly conjoint, cluster and factor analyses (22% of students indicated these subjects were covered in classes in the department). Also of note, case study methods are not being used by agribusiness students in their graduate research.
Keywords:
agribusiness research, agricultural economics, student learning
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