AGBUS 1500: Intro to Agribusiness Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the AGBUS 1500 lecture notes on agribusiness, agriculture economics, and related topics.

Agribusiness

The sum total of all operations involved in the manufacture and distribution of farm supplies; production operations on the farm; and the storage, processing, and distribution of farm commodities and items made from them.

Producer

An individual or firm that produces (makes; manufactures) a good or provides a service.

Consumer

An individual or household that purchases a good or service.

Microeconomics

The study of individual decision-making units such as households and businesses.

Macroeconomics

The study of economic-wide activities such as recession, monetary policies, and unemployment.

Vertical Coordination

Successive production and/or marketing stages are coordinated within one firm.

Cyclical Nature of Production

Agricultural returns tend to be cyclical, involving a few years of good returns followed by a few years of negative returns.

Price Instability

Fluctuations in prices caused by climatic conditions, diseases, consumer demand changes, and government policies.

Scarcity

Limited resources that necessitate choices and trade-offs between different goods and services.

Opportunity Cost

The value of the next best alternative that must be given up when a choice is made.

Gross National Product (GNP)

The total value of all finished goods and services produced by a country’s citizens, regardless of production location.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of all final goods and services produced within a country’s borders.

Contract Production

Production agreements between farmers or ranchers and processors that specify the type of produce and payment terms.

Family Farm

A farm where the majority of the business is owned by an operator and their relatives.

Economics

A social science that deals with how consumers, producers, and societies choose among alternative uses of scarce resources.

Positive Economics

Deals with factual statements and the analysis of what is, without value judgments.

Normative Economics

Involves value judgments and prescriptive statements about what ought to be.

Farmer Cooperatives

User-owned, user-controlled businesses that distribute benefits to its members based on use.

Agricultural Economics

An applied social science that deals with the production, processing, marketing, and consumption of food, fuel, and fiber products.