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Agriculture and business go hand in hand. "The agribusiness industry includes food, forest, and fiber producing operations, the manufacture and distribution of farm equipment and supplies, and the processing, storage and distribution of commodities." (McCollum, 2022). It is a complex system that affects individual farmers as well as global chains. Like all businesses, external factors such as politics, climate, and technology can have major implications on the agriculture sector. For example, "Technology such as GPS, drones, robotics, and self-driving vehicles are used to raise, harvest, and process animals and plants for use." (McCollum, 2022). Obvious events such as droughts and floods effect production and in turn profits, but even subtle changes in consumer habits (such as eating less red meat) can alter the direction of business. |
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Open books may be 100% open or there may be chapters that are open. It is important to critically analyze open books and think about who or why the information is being shared in this format, before deciding to use it. For example, who are the authors/publisher and what else have they published? When was it published - is there more up-to-date information available? Is it for a Canadian, American, or international context? You may need to click "read online" or scroll to the bottom of the information page to see more details such as the description or table of contents. Some open books also have extra features such as activities, exercises, or videos.
Open books may be 100% open or there may be open chapters within an eBook.
This open book explores topics relating to agricultural hierarchies, commercialization, private farming, markets, production and consumption, and more. Shared under a CC BY 4.0 license.
This text was developed for a first year course at the University of Arkansas. With the help of this text, "students should have a broad understanding of the economics of food and agricultural markets. Students who complete the course should also be able to apply this understanding to problems in production agriculture, agribusiness, and food policy." - From preface. Shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license
"This book has been prepared for students taking Agribusiness Management 101 in The Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at The Pennsylvania State University." - From Book Contents. Chapters cover topics including: the market (demand and supply), alternatives and choices, production and costs, as well as economics and policy. Shared under CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted.
"The purpose of this guide is to provide foundational education for farm and ranch families on how to create a basic business succession and estate plan... This guide also gives you a starting point as you consider your alternatives and begin family discussions about the roles that each family member or nonfamily member may play in the future of the farm as a business." - OER Commons website. Shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
"The book showcases the power of economic principles to explain and predict issues and current events in the food, agricultural, agribusiness, international trade, labor markets, and natural resource sectors." - Publisher website. This book is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
You can find open access journals in online collections such as DOAJ or OAPEN. Alternatively, you can check out a publisher's website to see if they support open access options. Open journals may be entirely open or only certain articles may be available as open access.
Searching a website such as DOAJ can help you find reputable journals as untrustworthy journals exist. There are open journals known as predatory journals that will "prey" on unsuspecting academics trying to publish. They may engage in a number of dubious, academically illegitimate, or even unethical practices (e.g. charging exorbitant author-side fees or utilising inadequate or false peer review processes).
The provincial and federal governments are making some of their data open to be used and shared by researchers, educators, policy makers, and people working within the agriculture sector. Check out the links below for a sample of Canadian and international data.
When searching for books (print or electronic) and DVDs using the Library search, it is best to use keywords to search rather than sentences. Think of a keyword that describes the overarching topic you want to look for. It may be also helpful to think of synonyms for this term and try searching for those as well. When searching for books, you want to be specific but not granular about the topic (think about how a book may be described overall). You'll find some example keywords and searches below, can you think of others?
DISCLAIMER: UFV print books are not open access or open educational resources because they are not free from copyright restrictions (so fair dealing rules for allowable copying still apply), however, they are free to access for UFV students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Community borrowers are also permitted to borrow print resources - for more information please see the 'Access to UFV Library Books' section on this page.
"The Urban Farmer is a comprehensive, hands-on, practical manual to help you learn the techniques and business strategies you need to make a good living growing high-yield, high-value crops right in your own backyard (or someone else's)."
" In this book, farm women in the northeastern United States describe how they got into farming and became successful entrepreneurs despite the barriers they encountered in agricultural institutions, farming communities, and even their own families. Their strategies for obtaining land and labor and developing successful businesses offer models for other aspiring farmers. Pulling down the barriers that women face requires organizations and institutions to become informed by what the authors call a feminist agrifood systems theory (FAST)."
"This book collects the voices of NFU members who tell the stories of the key struggles of the progressive farm movement in Canada: fighting to build viable rural communities, protecting the family farm and creating socially just and ecologically sustainable food systems. Frontline Farmers reveals that the stakes for controlling our food in Canada have never been higher."-- Provided by publisher.
"What is the business configurations in agribusiness system? Is not the power likely to focus on a restricted number of big manufacturers, and on a much more limited number of distributors? How to design the future role of the SME and producers? The book identifies the challenges of modern agribusiness in their globalities."
"This book examines how religious traditions and communities in the United States and beyond are responding to critical environmental ethical issues posed by the global food system. In particular, it looks at the responses that have developed within Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, and shows how they relate to arguments and approaches in the broader study of food and environmental ethics."
"In Speculative Harvests, Clapp and Isakson investigate the evolving relationship between the agrifood and financial sectors, paying particular attention to how the contemporary process of financialization is reshaping agrarian development and food systems. Understood as the growing prevalence of financial actors, markets, motives and profits in an economy, financialization is a defining feature of modern-day capitalism that is reconfiguring the distribution of wealth and economic power in a variety of contexts across the globe." Provided by publisher
"The book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, looking at the issues, opportunities, and investible themes in the global agricultural space, combining both research and practical tools for analyzing topics and assessing risks. A central theme of the book is the role of the agriculture industry as an emerging market, how the industry has developed and grown to date, and prospects for the future." Provided by publisher
UFV students, faculty, and alumni can borrow print UFV Library books. UFV Library also allows retired faculty and individuals from the B.C. community to sign out books after they have signed up for a community borrower card (there is a $5 one time fee). Please present your UFV ID card at the circulation desk. Limits will apply to alumni and community borrowers. For more information about borrowing materials, please see the links below:
Current UFV students, faculty, and staff have access to thousands of journals that the library subscribes to - for free! Some of the journals within our databases are open access, while others are not. UFV alumni can access library databases only when on-campus.
