The primary objective of agricultural economists is to maximize profitability in agriculture to the benefit of society. They pursue this aim through studying and analysing the aspects that influence the agricultural economy and distribution of resources, such as land, raw materials, labour and machinery.
This includes the manufacture and distribution of agricultural means of production; farming itself; the understanding of and, in some cases, the determination of, government policy concerning agricultural and consumption affairs; the purchasing, processing and distribution of agricultural products; the financing of all aspects of agricultural production; the marketing and selling of agricultural products; economic evaluation of agricultural projects; agricultural development; as well as research and giving advice on all these facets.
Agricultural economists advise the agricultural sector on issues such as financing, marketing, agricultural development, policy, research and production. They use mathematical models to develop programmes that can predict the length and nature of agricultural cycles; they do research, and then review and analyse their research and report on it in clear, concise language comprehensible to people who are not economists.
The field of study of agricultural economics can be divided into seven components, namely:
Production economy: the relationship between the inputs, production and profit as well as labour utilisation.
Financial management: aspects such as the management process itself, agricultural planning and the principles of financing.
Agricultural marketing: all aspects of marketing such as the price system and market types.
Agricultural policy: the interaction between agriculture and other sectors, the trade policy, production policy, price and income policy and the government functions.
Agricultural development: the role which agriculture plays in the development of the economy as well as the role of the government and private initiative.
Operational research: the application of economic simulation and optimisation techniques on agricultural problems.
Agricultural environmental economics: the economic evaluation of the interaction between agricultural production processes and the natural environment.
Agricultural economists work both indoors, in offices and such places as conference venues, and outdoors, doing research and consultations on farms. They often need to travel to perform research on special projects. They need to be comfortable working with government, national and international trade policies and regulations, production costs and techniques, market trends, economic principles and theories, statistical data and other financial information.
Schooling & School Subjects
Compulsory Subjects: Mathematics (required for Bachelor or Commerce), Mathematics and Physical Sciences (required for a Bachelor of Science)
Recommended subjects: Economics
In addition, check the university admission requirements to see if you qualify for the programme you want to do.
Degree: the minimum qualification is a BSc (Agric) degree or a BCom (Agricultural Economics) degree. The BSc (Agric) degree takes four years to complete and it prepares candidates for careers in which not only knowledge of economical principles is necessary but also biological / agricultural knowledge. Besides careers in marketing and financing, the BSc (Agric) degree is especially suitable for persons in farming, input and processing industries.
The BCom (Agricultural Economics) or BSc (Agric)degree takes three years to complete. The aim of the degree is to train experts for careers in Agricultural Economics in which biological / scientific knowledge is less important, such as in most facets of marketing, financing, commerce and income and trade policy.
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