Course Units – Agribusiness

This unit develops your knowledge to effectively collect and record financial data for agribusinesses. You will understand accounting principles as they apply to farming, and producing fundamental reports, such as income statements and statements of financial position.

• Cash accounting
• Cash control
• GST
• Introduction to financial statements
• Agricultural accounting

This unit explores the concept of the customer, supply and demand and the marketing value chain. You will learn the marketing principles – 4P(s) and understand the factors determining price.

• Principles of marketing
• Principles of economics
• Value chain analysis
• Who is the customer?

This unit provides the skills required to assess the resource base of a farm property to determine what the land can produce. You will be introduced to relevant agricultural fundamental principles to communicate the resource’s capacity in business settings.

• Introduction to business software (spreadsheets and word processing)
• Farm business profile and resource analysis
• Agricultural fundamentals
• Business communications

Wellbeing strategies are critical to the successful operation of an agribusiness. You will be introduced to the concept of systems thinking and be exposed to real-world examples of how a business decision in one area affects other aspects of the operation. This unit includes a 5-day domestic study tour.

• Health & resilience
• Professional writing and reporting for business
• Domestic study tour

During this unit you will develop your understanding of production systems to build a budget that reflects the proposed production activity. You will develop an understanding of the key drivers of profitability and how they affect the preparation of a budget. You will use your production knowledge and budgeting to prepare a bank finance proposal.

• Gross margin analysis
• Livestock schedules
• Cash flow budgeting
• Sensitivity analysis
• Finance proposals

You will understand how industry structures and value chains influence the market. This unit will draw on your previous industry experience to help analyse the role of these structures and their effect in supporting commodity price.

• External environment analysis
• Industry structures
• Micro economics
• Supply and demand

You will understand the nature of agronomic, livestock and human resources and how those systems interact in an agribusiness operation. You will apply your understanding of resource systems to assist in developing production based, cash flow budgets in the concurrent unit FAA542 Developing Financial Proposals.

• Self-management
• OH&S in the workplace
• Fundamentals of crop production systems
• Fundamentals of animal production systems

You will expand your concepts of systems thinking utilising knowledge gained from all units you have studied. You will synthesise the knowledge obtained from your studies with the experience gained from visiting a range of agribusinesses and develop a comprehensive understanding of the financial performance of an enterprise. This unit includes an extended international study tour where you will explore international markets and demand for Australian agricultural products.

• Enterprise profitability case study
• Intercultural communication
• Comparative markets
• International study tour

You will develop skills to use both financial and non-financial data to analyse business performance. You will determine the value of information held and the means to discover what additional information is necessary to assess performance of a farm business enterprise.

• Farm accounting & budgeting software
• Farm business analysis
• Production economics
• Financial ratio analysis

You will develop skills to determine appropriate marketing strategies for different entities or products. Understanding marketing strategies will allow you to develop the brand that will define your agribusiness product and how best to communicate with your chosen market.

• Marketing strategies
• Brand development
• Marketing channels
• Websites & e-commerce

During this unit you will be introduced to decision processes that will enable you to allocate scarce resources and develop means of best utilizing assets to achieve economies of scale. You will learn about the allocation of land, capital, technology, people & skills as well as enterprises. You will develop modelling techniques to assist the decision process.

• Fundamentals of intensive agriculture
• Agriculture technologies
• Advanced spreadsheet modeling
• Introduction to e-business
• Managing workplace teams

This unit includes a requirement that you undertake a 4-week practical placement in an approved agribusiness. A key objective of the placement is to recognise the interrelated systems within the workplace and how management structures allow the interaction of systems to achieve the performance objectives. You will be able to integrate all of your learning and experience as part of a case study.

• Practical placement
• Performance improvement case study

This unit will provide you with the skills to select, use and manage the appropriate decision making tools for valuing capital, for analysing investment decisions and to undertake valuations of business operations.

• Introduction to corporate finance
• Discounted cash flows
• Introduction into decision making in an uncertain environment
• Agribusiness valuations
• Portfolio management

Australia exports over 70% of its agribusiness product. You will be able to identify elements of the international supply chain, efficiencies within those systems, and how they affect price. You will understand the effect of external factors on the supply chain, such as government policies & agreements, cultural, economic and competitor issues.

• Operations management and supply chains
• Logistics management
• International business management
• International marketing

You will develop the skills to design and conduct research and analyse data to complement your business skills.  You will learn how to manage people (their time, skills and experience) to achieve the objectives of the business.

• Research methods
• Experimental design
• Statistical analysis
• Human resource management

During this unit you will be exposed to a range of agribusinesses that have invested in developing their value proposition. Some will have achieved growth through acquisition, some organically and others through product development. You will have an opportunity to follow the process of market development with real agribusinesses.  This unit includes a 5-day domestic tour.

• Domestic study tour
• Engagement with selected agribusinesses
• Workshop ideas and present decisions for change

The choice of business structure impacts the manner in which capital is contributed or withdrawn, how assets can be transferred and how taxation is applied to profits. During this unit you will learn the fundamentals of income tax. You will compare, contrast and assess a range of business structures, considering the impact of taxation, inter-generational transfer of assets and transactions with the owners.

• The Australian tax system
• Applied agribusiness corporate finance
• Succession planning
• Business structures

The strategic direction of a business can be determined by analysis of factors within and external to the business. During this unit you will learn how external factors effect strategy.  You will apply price risk management tools to strategically manage external factors.

• Commodity marketing
• Understanding marketing derivatives
• Introduction to business strategy
• Applied economics
• Forwards, futures and options

During your study of this unit you will refine your skills in technology management and develop discernment skills to evaluate the role of new technologies in agribusiness. You will then focus on how technology can enhance profitability, either through cost savings, increased efficiency or comparative advantage.

• Create computer models for agribusiness
• e-Business
• Precision agriculture
• Capture and analysis of production data
• Database design and management

Within this unit you will compare the development of business, through financial management, market development, the development of the workforce and capital investment. Your case study will seek to implement strategic change in an agribusiness to improve its performance against its own objectives. This unit includes an extended international study tour.

• Implement a strategic change case study
• International study tour

During this unit you will enhance your decision making skills by mastering risk evaluation and pricing methods and applying them to complex investment decisions. You will consider a wide range of risk factors affecting the investment decision.

• Further decision making in an uncertain environment
• Risk management
• Investment decisions
• Stochastic modelling

In the process of strategic thinking, managers must be able to develop tactical strategies and action plans. Whilst developing action plans, more research, technical assistance or other information may be required. In this unit you will develop an action plan to give effect to a business strategy. You will be required to consider matters of law, marketing plans, factors both internal and external to the business.

• Implementing business strategy
• Strategic marketing decisions
• Agribusiness law
• Contract law
• Leases

This unit will develop your approaches for negotiation in agribusiness and will provide you with skills to be successful in different business contexts. You will delve into the industrial relations (IR) environment; understanding employment laws and how IR negotiation can be quite specific.

• Industrial relations
• Negotiating in an agribusiness environment

This capstone unit is designed to bring all aspects of your experience and learning together. It will draw on the experience gained in a second 4-week practical placement. During the placement, you will be required to analyse the agribusiness you are working with to select the most appropriate growth strategy. Your case study on a selected corporate agribusiness will build on your placement experience to promote the implementation of a development strategy.

• Practical placement
• Growth and development case study