Course Syllabus

AGBS 2030 Managerial Analysis and Decision Making

Course Description

This course centers on analysis of financial and production records and use of benchmarks to identify strengths and weaknesses of agriculture businesses. Development of a management plan that emphasizes planning, organizing, managing, financial and production analysis and benchmarking, and exploring recommendations for improving benchmarks and sustainability of the business is required. Students will be required to develop and submit a business plan to improve an actual farm or ranch business.

Justification

This course provides opportunities for students to apply principles, practices, and business planning processes learned in other agriculture and business classes. The course is unique in that students have access to actual business records for analyzing strengths and weaknesses. By working with actual farm business records and evaluating the business's resources and financial and production records and through industry benchmarks, students will apply business skills learned in previous classes to develop a business plan for improving and/or developing revenue centers of the business and improving business benchmarks.

The Business Department Advisory Committee recommends the class be offered for agricultural business students. This course meets course requirements for many USU Agriculture degrees.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will be expected to perform a variety of calculations used in business management, including but not limited to the following: cost of production or break-even, financial statement analysis; profitability, repayment capacity and cash-flow; and long range planning.
2. Students will evaluate the ability of an agriculture business to be financially sustainable; perform a financial analysis including benchmarks for comparison to industry benchmarks.
3. As a team, students will organize and effectively present a business purchase plan, using a variety of presentation methods.
4. Capstone project: In a team, students will evaluate a farm or ranch business's strengths and weaknesses using industry benchmarks and will apply management tools, strategies, and skills learned in other classes to develop a business plan for strategic improvement of critical benchmarks. Students will prepare a formal presentation outlining the plan to improve benchmarks and revenue-generating opportunities for the agricultural business.

Course Content

Course objectives will be accomplished by providing students with the following learning experiences: review farm/ranch and agricultural business financial statements, production records, and industry benchmarks; perform a purchase analysis for an agriculture business; review case studies of actual agricultural businesses including beef cattle, dairy, and crops. Students will perform analysis for cost/ benefits for changes in irrigation and its effects on production and business cost, economics of equipment management, and range improvement. Actual agriculture businesses will be analyzed using nationally recognized agricultural business benchmarking, planning, and budgeting software.Through exposure to farm and ranch businesses, small to large, traditional to non-traditional students will evaluate resources, analyze the businesses, and brainstorm potential revenue centers and/or improvement opportunities in current revenue centers, and create a business plan for improving or adding selected revenue centers to the business.