Undergraduate Program

Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics

The Agricultural and Applied Economics Department is a department with a strong commitment by staff and faculty to undergraduate education.

Our faculty, staff, and the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources as a whole have a reputation for thoughtful mentoring of undergraduate students. A recent survey conducted in our upper-division classes revealed that 88 percent of students ranked our professors as the top strength in our department.

Photo of Turtle RockClick here for our Undergraduate Brochure (PDF format). Navigate to our current General Bulletin description of our program and faculty for more information

Courses taught by this department prepare students for exciting career opportunities in multiple areas of industry and commerce.  

Fifty percent of our students go on to agricultural related jobs (from farm and ranch to related agricultural service businesses of all sorts), while 28 percent go on to non-agricultural related jobs. Others work in firms that do both agricultural and non-agricultural related work. Many of our students also move into graduate or professional degree programs.

A recent study by a research institute, Burning Glass reported on what they described as credential creep, where a growing number of people in the employment market are being shut out of middle-skill, middle-class occupations by employers’ looking for people with a bachelor’s degree. Our agricultural business degree prepares students for careers in a wide variety of fields - including many jobs outside of agriculture. These could include:

    • Managing a food processing plant or feedlot.
    • Analyzing financial issues for a multi-national corporation
    • Working as an appraiser for a bank or real estate company
    • Serving as a financial officer in a bank's agricultural loan department
    • Developing advertising or retail strategies for a food-processing company
    • Working overseas for a multi-national corporation
 and development programs
    • Trading commodities on one of the commodity exchanges
    • Working as an analyst or manager in natural resource oriented firms such as mining, forestry, or outfitting.
    • Analyst for business service companies.
    • Local, State, or Federal Government, State Government or
    • Non-Government Organizations or Co-operatives.
    • Graduate economics programs or professional degree programs such law, MBA, and others.

Source: Winters, Dalin. 2006. “The Market for University of Wyoming Graduates from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.” Master Thesis. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. University of Wyoming.

Figure 1. Source: Winters, Dalin. 2006. "The Market for University of Wyoming Graduates from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics;" Masters Thesis. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. University of Wyoming.

Students in this program can find themselves in careers ranging from traditional farm or ranch level work to international firms and government agencies. Recent studies of where our graduates end up are summarized in the following chart taken from a recent Masters Project (Winters, 2006). Students end up in a wide range of careers that require management and economic decision making as well as marketing understanding.

This program is designed around a national study on Agribusiness Management education by the National Food and Agribusiness Management Education Commission (2006). The core courses in our program follow the NFAM report and focus on the three areas of expertise: management, marketing, finance, but then add to it economic decision-making.

Beyond the Core students choose one of four options: Agribusiness, Farm and Ranch Management, Livestock Business Management, and International Agriculture.  Each option is explained in more detail below as to what courses are needed to fulfill each Option.

The program also allows for a wider range of careers in various natural resource related positions with minors in the physical sciences such as soils, animal science, agroecology, Environment and Natural Resources, and others to social science and business minors. The program complements well with more traditional business minors such as accounting and finance, providing an applied economic decision-making base to these programs of study. Students in this career route often get jobs in banking or accounting where the primary clientele may be from agriculture.

The program has four primary options that a student can choose from: Agribusiness, Farm and Ranch Mgt., Livestock Business Management, International Agriculture.

Options

We offer a Bachelor of Science degree program in which students select one of the following degree options:

  1. Agribusiness
  2. Farm and Ranch Management
  3. Livestock Business Management

With any of these program options, you will be well-trained in marketing, management, economic decision-making, and communications. General University Studies requirements further provide a broad-based experience in the physical and biological sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Furthermore, a student can also pursue a minor in Environment and Natural Resources as well as minors in any of the three above options. We are proud of these degree options and of our graduates.

Dual Degree and Minors Programs
Environment and Natural Resources Dual Degree

Students interested in natural resource or environmental issues or careers may complete any of the three options within agricultural business offered by the department with an environment and natural resource emphasis. Inquiries about environment and natural resource concentrations in agricultural business should be directed to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. For more information on the Dual ENR program go to the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

The department also offers five minor programs. These five minors are to give students majoring in other undergraduate curricula in the university a concentration of work in any of the four specialized undergraduate curricula offered by the department or in general agricultural economics. Each minor requires 27 hours in prescribed course work including 6 hours in supporting agriculture. Students need to plan their course work to meet course prerequisites.

Agricultural Business Minor. AGEC 1010, 1020, 4050 and 4060; Accounting 1010; 6 additional hours in upper-level agricultural economics courses; 6 hours in supporting agriculture courses.

Farm and Ranch Management Minor. AGEC 1010, 1020, 2020 and 4640; 9 additional hours in upper-level agricultural economics courses; 6 hours in supporting agriculture courses.

International Agriculture Minor. AGEC 1010, 1020, 3860 and 4880; 6 additional hours in upper-level agricultural economics courses; 3 or 4 hours in foreign culture or language; 6 hours in supporting agriculture courses.

Natural Resource Economics Minor. Required: AGEC 1020, 4700, 4720, and 4750; choose 9 additional hours from AGEC 4450, 4600, 4710; ECON 2400, 4400, 4410, 4520 (note: College of Business prerequisites); ENR 4500.

General Agricultural Economics Minor. AGEC 1010, 1020 and 15 additional hours in agricultural economics courses with 12 hours at the upper-level; 6 hours in supporting agriculture courses.


Links to popular minors:


Other Minors


Click here to view our UW Student Learning Outcomes page.

Catalog (Department) Information: Course description and Information

 

Internships

Summer internships and international opportunities are available to students interested in enhancing their college experience beyond the ordinary. Internships can take a student to a summer position with a bank, a ranch, the University’s Y-cross Ranch, and other opportunities as they are available. For more information on College of Agriculture internships click on the following link: College of Agriculture Internships.

International Opportunities

International exchange programs are available through the University’s International Exchange and Study Abroad Program. The Department has a long running relationship with the Superior School of Agriculture in Angers, France. Students, either with or without foreign language skills, can participate in month-long foreign study tours and farm internships.  Dr. Ed Bradley in our department manages this particular program.

   Some of our recent graduates are highlighted in this brochure, including comments from each regarding their college experiences and their degree option. We hope their experiences will encourage you to learn more about our program.

Student Comments 
and Career Opportunities

The University of Wyoming is a land grant university located in a small community of just under 30,000 residents in the Rocky Mountains.
 

To learn more about the University and the town please click on the following links:

     University of Wyoming Visitor page

     Laramie, Wyoming Chamber of Commerce page

     or see our page on the Laramie Area
 

 
Contact Us

Agricultural & Applied Economics

University of Wyoming

1000 E. University Ave.

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: (307) 766-2386

Email: brashfor@uwyo.edu

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