Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
products. As a result, the proportion of the food dollar that goes to production agriculture has
declined, and the marketing bill has expanded.
The defi nition of agribusiness used in this topic includes three important sectors: the
food sector, the production agriculture sector, and the input supply sector. In their combined
activities, these three areas provide a tremendous variety of food and fi ber products to
consumers both in the U.S. and around the world. In this food system, each sector is tied to
the next in the task of developing, producing, and delivering food products to the consumer.
The food sector includes a wide range of fi rms including processors, manufacturers, whole-
salers, and retailers. Many of these fi rms are global fi rms offering brands we are all familiar
with. Others are focused on manufacturing ingredients that are inputs for other food compa-
nies. The production agriculture sector is undergoing dramatic change as the number of
farms declines, and their size increases. Finally, the input supply sector provides the product
and service inputs required by the farm production sector. Tractors, seed, crop protection
products, capital, and advice are examples of products/services provided by input supply
fi rms.
Discussion questions
1
List and defi ne the four functions of agribusiness management.
2
What are fi ve reasons the agribusiness sector may be considered unique? How or why
could agribusiness and fi rms outside the agribusiness sectors make different decisions
in similar situations?
3
The food marketing bill continues to grow each year—the proportion of the total farm-
food marketing bill going to the food sector continues to increase. Interpret this trend.
What are the reasons for this increase? How does this marketing bill affect farmers?
Explain.
4
What are three signifi cant trends facing food retailers? How have these impacted the
food retailing industry?
5
Why have away from home eating establishments become so popular? Do you expect
these trends to continue? Why or why not?
6
The size of U.S. farms has continued to increase. What are the positive dimensions of
this trend? What are the negative dimensions of this trend? How does this trend impact
the food sector and the input supply sector?
7
Environmental regulations and public acceptance of biotechnology were mentioned as
important issues facing production agriculture, and hence input supply fi rms. Take one
of these two issues, or the broader social issue of your choice, and outline some of
the key implications of the issue for fi rms manufacturing and distributing inputs to
farmers.
Case study
In this chapter, we look at three key sectors of the food production and marketing system—
the food sector, the production agriculture sector, and the input supply sector. For this case
study, pick a specifi c food or fi ber product. The product could be cotton jeans, watermelon,
frozen dinners, snack chips, beef steak, pizza—pick something you have an interest in. Then,
using the library or the Internet, locate the name of one fi rm for each of the three sectors of
agribusiness that is involved in some way in the production and distribution of your product.
For pizza, this might be Pizza Hut (food sector), a family-owned tomato grower/shipper
