Agricultural Economics Courses

Spring 2013 Fall 2012

AECN 141 - Introduction to Economics of Agriculture
Instructor - Dr. Ron Hanson
Description - Introductory course on the basic principles of agricultural economics. Production economics, principles of supply and demand, resource economics, world food situation, marketing of agricultural products, and agricultural public policy.
Syllabus

AECN 225 - Agribusiness Entrepreneurship in Food Products Marketing
Instructor - Dr. Ron Hanson
Description - Marketing strategies and entrepreneurship ventures throughout a food systems channel from producers of agricultural commodities to processors of food products and the final consumer. Entrepreneurship studies dealing with food processors, wholesaling, retailing and food service firms. Create strategic marketing plan to introduce a new food product into a retail consumer market.
Syllabus

AECN 256 - Legal Aspects of Agriculture
Instructor - Professor David Aiken
Description - Legal aspects of agriculture: taxation, contracts, property rights, buying and selling real estate, condemnation, land use regulations, leases, co-ownership, partnerships, corporations, commercial transactions, credit, liability, insurance, estate planning, water law, and agricultural regulations. A practical exposure to the legal institutions of Nebraska.
Syllabus

AECN 275 - Agribusiness Entrepreneurial Finance
Instructor - Dr. David Lambe
Description - Overview of financial issues for agribusiness start-ups. Business funding specific to new enterprises. Case studies on financial practices for start-up firms.

AECN 346 - World Food Economics
Instructor - Dr. Wes Peterson
Description - Description and economic evaluation of world food systems, including production, distribution, and consumption in developing and industrialized countries. Economic implications of alternative means for meeting world food needs, with emphasis on the social science aspects of the world food availability and needs, policies, and the economics of technological change.
Syllabus

AECN 357 - Natural Resources and Environmental Law
Instructor - Professor David Aiken
Description - Environmental impact review; air and water pollution control; solid and hazardous waste control; endangered species and habitat preservation; land use regulation; state and federal water rights law.
Syllabus

AECN 376 - Rural Community Economics
Instructor - Dr. Bruce Johnson
Description - Application of economic and social principles and concepts relevant to understanding rural communities and the issues and problems they face. Public decision-making process and the skills necessary for constructive participation in community affairs.

AECN 401 - Advanced Farm Management and Linear Programming
Instructor - Dr. Larry Van Tassell
Description - The role of budgeting and linear programming in analyzing farm organization problems, theory of linear programming, linear program design, and analysis of linear programmed solutions to farm organization problems. Includes goal programming, multiple objective programming, risk programming, and financial modeling.

AECN 416 - Advanced Agribusiness Management
Instructor - Dr. Dennis Conley
Conduct industry and business research in strategic management of an agribusiness. Internal and external factors and competitive forces, affecting the firm. Integration of concepts from various economic and business disciplines.

AECN 420 - International Food and Agricultural Trade
Instructor - Dr. Wes Peterson
Description - Application of basic principles of international trade and finance to food and agricultural trade. Particular attention to current policy issues in agricultural trade such as the pros and cons of regional trade blocks, alternative agricultural and trade policies, the effects of exchange rate variation on agricultural trade, and trade and environmental protection.
Syllabus

AECN 435 - Advanced Agricultural Marketing Management
Instructor - Jeff Peterson
Description - Marketing: farm, ranch, and agribusiness firm management. Risk management strategies using combinations of derivatives and insurance products. Advanced trading and merchandising strategies using fundamental and technical analysis.

AECN 445 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Policy Analysis
Instructor - Dr. Wes Peterson
Description - Introduction to the application of economic concepts and tools to the analysis and evaluation of public policies. Economic approaches to policy evaluation derived from welfare economics. Social benefit-cost analysis described and illustrated through applications to current agricultural and natural resource policy issues.
Syllabus

AECN 452 - Agricultural Finance
Instructor - Dr. Ron Hanson
Principles and concepts of financial management of farm and agribusiness firms developed. Various strategies for acquiring and using capital resources by the individual firm explored. Institutions providing the sources of agricultural credit are individually studied.
Syllabus

AECN 456 - Environmental Law
Instructor - Professor David Aiken
Description - Administrative law, risk assessment, environmental impact review, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, non-point pollution control, wetlands regulations pesticide and toxic substance regulation, solid and hazardous waste regulation, drinking water protection, land use regulation, energy policy, and international environmental law.
Syllabus

AECN 457 - Water Law
Instructor - Professor David Aiken
Description - Environmental impact review; public trust doctrine; endangered species; land use controls; wetlands regulation; surface and ground water rights; Indian and federal water rights; impact of water quality regulations on water allocation.
Syllabus

AECN 472 - Agricultural Marketing and Product Development II
Instructor - Rosalee Swartz
Description - Further refinement in the development of marketing plan from AECN 471. Condensation of marketing plan into executive summary and preparation of professional oral presentation. Extensive interaction with the local agribusiness community and participation in national agri-marketing competition.

AECN 482 - Beef Industry Scholars - National Beef Industry Policy
Instructor - Dr. Brad Lubben
Description - Requires attending the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) annual convention and then, communicating the new policy and issues to local organizations and undergraduate student groups. Discuss and dissect issues from the NCBA convention researching the pros and cons of current and proposed policy.