Instructor: Professor John Beghin, 568 Heady Hall; email: beghin@iastate.edu (preferred to phone

Home page: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/card/about/faculty/beghin/home.html

Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday, 9:30-10:45AM in Agronomy 2050

Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 11-12AM, or by appointment.

Teaching Assistant: To be designated. The assistant is used for grading exams and homework assignments. Questions on the course material should be addressed to me.

Prerequisite: Economics 101 or equivalent.

Textbook: No textbook is required. Investing in Futures and Options Markets by Catlett and Libbin is recommended. It is a good starter on marketing strategies and pr

Grading and Exams: We will have 3 homework assignments during the semester, and 2 midterm exams. The lowest homework and midterm exam grades are dropped. Tentative dates for

The final exam is comprehensive and is scheduled on Wednesday, December 15 at 9:45.

Homework and participation 40%

Midterm 30%

Final 30%.

Objective of the Course: This course applies concepts learned in Economics 101 to analyze agricultural and processing marketing issues. The objective is to unable students t

Course Description: The course is divided in two main parts. The first part looks at food and processing markets and their implications for agricultural commodity markets.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction

Definition of agricultural marketing

The US agricultural and food and agriculture-processing system

From retail markets back to the farmgate

Middleman, coordination and information

Changes and shocks

Case study (the cotton-apparel chain)

Part 1: Food markets

I.1 The consumer

The demand side of marketing

Consumer behavior

Household production

Value of time and food consumption away from home

Thinking about attributes

Advertising

Health, nutritional and environmental information

Labeling

Reaction to new products

Foreign consumers and food export opportunities

Price analysis

Case studies (food markets in Asia)

Homework #1

I.2. Food Supply

Derived demand from retail and wholesale

Middlemen function

Industrial organization and concentration

Derived demand for commodities and capacity

Homework #2

Exam #1.

Part 2: Farm Level marketing

II.1 The producer

Producer’s decision

Location decisions

Uncertainty and marketing

Price analysis

Price risk, futures and options

Revenue and crop insurance

Contracting and the middleman

Policy analysis

II.2 Industry level

Market structure changes

Technology and new products

Globalization and some principles of international trade

Farm policy impact on prices

Case studies

Homework #3

Exam #2