Training agribusiness leaders
As a student in agricultural business and economics, you’ll fully tap into the diversity and complexity of today’s agriculture through extensive training in business, agricultural science and biology. You’ll learn how each of these fields influences our industry.
Undergraduate programs
To cope with the diversity and complexity of today’s agriculture, men and women need strong backgrounds in the business and economic concepts that relate to agriculture, agribusiness, marketing and the management of natural resources. Also, a technical knowledge of agriculture and a broad-based background in the life sciences is highly desired by employers. Such training is available through our major and minors offered through the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.
The agricultural business and economics major includes a variety of courses to prepare you to enter the many different careers available in the business and agricultural industries.
In your first two years, you’ll take business courses such as Microeconomics, Financial Accounting, Macroeconomics, Managerial Accounting and Statistics, as well as other core courses that will provide the knowledge base necessary for your advanced agricultural economics classes. As you progress through your four years, you’ll take Agricultural Finance, Agribusiness Marketing, Agricultural Law, Resource Economics, Agricultural Business Management, Agricultural Policies and Trade, Farm Management and Agricultural Prices.
A number of professional and agricultural electives are available to help you tailor your education in specific ways. Some students choose emphases in management, marketing or finance. Others choose to train in management and decision-making at the farm level, along with the technical aspects of production agriculture.
Many in our program choose to concentrate their studies around resource scarcity and environmental and rural development issues that have become critical. Public institutions that steward and safeguard our natural and human resources are primary employers in these areas.
Accelerated bachelor's/master's program
The accelerated bachelor's/master's degree program (ABM) is designed to provide an opportunity for highly motivated students to gain an in-depth understanding of agricultural business and economics beyond that of typical bachelor's level graduates and to make them more competitive for industry positions or graduate studies. Students in the ABM program have the opportunity to earn both the bachelor's and master's degrees in less time and at less cost than usual.
The program allows students to take three 6000-level courses (9 credit hours) that will count toward both bachelor's and master's degrees. The accelerated degree program can be applied toward either the thesis or non-thesis option of the M.S. degree in agricultural economics. In addition, the ABM program provides an opportunity for students involved in undergraduate research to build on their research and develop it into an M.S. thesis.
The accelerated program enables students to earn a master's degree in agricultural economics in about 12 to 15 months following the completion of the bachelor's degree in agricultural business and economics.
- Students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.4 to apply to the ABM program and must have a grade of at least a B in the following courses (or departmentally approved equivalent courses):
a. MATH 1680 – Calculus with Business Applications I or MATH 1610 – Calculus I
b. AGEC 3100 – Computer Applications in Agricultural Economics
c. AGEC 3200 – Quantitative Methods in Agricultural Economics - 2nd and 3rd-year undergraduate students should begin considering an area of research they would like to pursue and seek out AGEC faculty who could mentor them. The academic advisor, the department chair, and the GPO for the master’s program will be available to explain the program and start the process of connecting students with faculty advisors. The student will be responsible for contacting potential faculty advisors and securing an agreement for mentorship. The student will then apply for the program before April 1 of their junior year. Students are highly encouraged to apply for the AU Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program prior to February of their junior year so that they have time to establish a formal relationship with a faculty mentor and get experience doing research prior to graduate school.
- Students can only apply to the ABM program via the Auburn University Graduate School ABM form in the spring semester of their Junior year. Applications will initially be considered by the Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology graduate committee. If favorable, the application will be approved by the Graduate Program Officer, the Associate Dean for Instruction in the College of Agriculture, and forwarded to the Graduate School. The Graduate School will add the students to the selected 6000-level courses upon receiving and approving the signed application. Students cannot register and enroll in 6000-level courses until their ABM application is approved by the Graduate School.
- Once admitted, the student will continue to be advised by the undergraduate academic advisor with respect to all undergraduate degree/course requirements. However, these students will also have at least one advising-related appointment each semester before week 10 with a masters-level faculty advisor. During the fifth year (once the student has begun the M.S.), advising will be conducted by the masters-level faculty advisor, as they would with any graduate student.
- Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.4 to remain in the program and must make a grade of at least a B in the graduate courses that are required for the ABM program.
- Note that acceptance into the ABM program does not constitute admission into the Master of Science program in Agricultural Economics. Admission and acceptance into the Master of Science program will be contingent upon completion of the Bachelor’s degree.
- Students must take the GRE and apply for admission to the Graduate School, ideally before February of their senior year. All other requirements for admission into the Master of Science program in agricultural economics can be found in the Auburn University Bulletin and on the Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology departmental website.
- Undergraduates may voluntarily withdraw from the ABM program at any time by notifying in writing their faculty advisor, the academic advisor, and the Graduate Program Officer. A copy of the request to withdraw should be sent to the Dean of the Graduate School. Students who withdraw from the program voluntarily or because they do not meet program requirements will not be awarded graduate credit for double-counted courses.
- The ABM program allows students to count up to 9 hours toward both the bachelor’s and the master’s degrees. Students take 3 of the following 4 undergrad “piggyback” courses at the 6000 level instead of the 5000 level as required by the major:
Graduate Courses
- AGEC 6010: Farm Management
- AGEC 6030: Agricultural Prices
- AGEC 6090: Environment & Resource Economics
- AGEC 6100: Agricultural Business Management
Courses Replaced
- AGEC 5010 (3 credit hr)
- AGEC 5030 (3 credit hr)
- AGEC 5090 (3 credit hr)
- AGEC 5100 (3 credit hr)
Master's programs
Areas of specialization
- Natural resource and environmental economics
- Applied production economics
- International economics
- Applied market analysis
Curriculum and requirements
A minimum of 32 hours of course work is required with at least 18 hours in the major. A final oral exam is given by the advisory committee. Admission requirements for the Master of Agriculture are equivalent to those for the Master of Science degrees outlined in the AERS Graduate Handbook.
This non‐thesis option requires a “Plan B” paper that serves as the basis for the student’s final oral exam. Students pursuing the Master of Agriculture are typically not funded by the department but may seek funding directly from a faculty member.
Like the M.Ag. program, the Master of Science degree in agricultural economics offers studies in agribusiness management, production economics, markets and prices, environmental economics and more and helps students learn how to solve social and business problems through rigorous analysis and sound judgment. The M.S. can be either a thesis or non-thesis program offering studies in agricultural marketing, production economics, agricultural business, environmental economics and more. Like the M.Ag. program, the M.S. offers four areas of specialization:
Areas of specialization
- Natural resource and environmental economics
- Applied production economics
- International economics
- Applied market analysis
Curriculum and requirements
The Master of Science in agricultural economics requires a minimum of 30 total semester hours of graduate credit. The thesis option requires 6 hours of thesis research as part of the 30 total hours. The program of study will be planned in a field of interest, such as agricultural marketing, production economics, markets and prices, resources economics, environmental economics, agricultural finance, agricultural policy, international policy or farm management.
Candidates must pass a comprehensive examination covering the major field, as well as the research and thesis. This usually is a two‐hour oral examination upon completion of coursework and the thesis, but the student’s advisory committee also may require a written examination.
The graduate minor in agricultural economics is offered to non-majors and requires 12 credit hours of graduate-level coursework in agricultural economics, six of which must be at the 7000 level or above.
