Why Agribusiness?
Food is fundamental. Each of the 8 billion people on Earth consumes food every day. Understanding how food is produced, processed, marketed, and finally sold and consumed, is a fascinating, vital, and continually changing aspect of human existence.
Agriculture and food markets are very complicated. Agricultural production is a biological process that is inherently risky. Agricultural and food products exhibit a wide variety of production and marketing mechanisms and strategies that allow seasonal production to serve consumers year-round. Agricultural and food products go to consumers in many forms, be they sold fresh, frozen, or packaged.
Agricultural and food markets are increasingly challenged by many major issues facing the world today. Climate change is having, and will continue to have, a pronounced impact on food production. Agriculture affects, and is affected by, land, water, and air quality and availability as well as policies to address societal issues in these areas. Agricultural and food industries are affected by immigration policy, as migrant workers are disproportionately represented in agricultural production and processing industries.
Agriculture and food industries are a hotbed of new technology development and adoption. Technologies to save water, save labor, increase yields (save land), improve quality, improve shelf-life, manage complex marketing, logistics and the whole supply chain are constantly being developed and tried. Which ones hold the promise of continued and sustainable food production will be important to determine!
A Cal Poly Agribusiness degree will prepare you for a career in this vital, exciting, and dynamic industry, which has far more demand for management talent than is currently available on the market. Cal Poly Agribusiness graduates get very good jobs, either in agricultural enterprises directly, or in banking, supply chain management, marketing, retailing or sales. An Agribusiness degree will give you the technical and social skills that will help you advance your career wherever you decide to go, and will leave you with a strong appreciation for the world food system upon which we all depend.
