AGRIBUS 7065 - Agricultural Decision Making

North Terrace Campus - Trimester 3 - 2021

This course provides significant hands-on experience solving real-world problems, using Microsoft Excel as the analytical platform. Students will develop skills to assess decision-making outcomes at operational (e.g. farm) and higher (i.e. agricultural system) levels. A number of analytical frameworks will feature throughout the course schedule, including: gross margin budgeting; whole of farm budgets; benefit-cost analysis; optimization; risk and uncertainty analysis. Ahead of each of these analytical frameworks students will be provided a set of solid theoretical foundations as a basis for the skill development. Techniques learned will allow students to assess the current state of the business and to evaluate potential improvements to enhance profitability and sustainability while accounting for the limited resources available to the operation.

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Course Details

Course Code	AGRIBUS 7065
Course	Agricultural Decision Making
Coordinating Unit	Centre for Global Food & Resources
Term	Trimester 3
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Taught as intensive - includes (individual) supervision
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assumed Knowledge	Successful completion of at least one Trimester of your degree, including AGRIBUS 7055.
Assessment	Assignments, quizzes, participation

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Adam Loch

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

The course provides a strong grounding in understanding the research process which will enable the student to go on to complete a research project as a sole researcher or as part of a research team.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Identify relevant data sources, analyse alternative investments, evaluate their profitability and describe the risks and uncertainty to investments in agriculture.
Apply problem-solving skills through practical exercises and case studies to engage with and represent agricultural systems and decision-making problems.
Identify and apply appropriate strategies for investment analysis by interpreting decision-maker objectives, resource implications, risk factors and applying optimisation techniques.
Analyse profitability, cash flows and business opportunities through the application of computer-based techniques and tools for decision-making under risk and uncertainty.
Document, prepare and present decision-making skills through assigned tasks and practical exercises that could be presented at Policy Group, Board or Senior Management levels.

最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 2, 3 and 4
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	2, 3 and 4
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	4 and 5
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1 - 5
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	2, 3, 4 and 5
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	2, 3 and 4

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course will be delivered intensively over nine weeks.

Weekly sessions will consist of five hour lectures split into theory delivery (2 hours) and practical application sessions (3 hours).

Delivery will be in dual mode (i.e. remote synchronous teaching and asynchronous face-to-face) where lecture materials will be pre-recorded as a resource, then discussed in-depth in the asynchronous teaching sessions.

Additional course consultation times will be provided by the lecturers to assist students with their learning outside of these sessions.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Core information will be provided to students ahead of course commencement and basic principles will be outlined and developed in the lecture component of the course. Practical parts of the lecture sessions will be used to more deeply develop and apply these core concepts through the use of flipped discussion, problem solving activities and interactive student engagement. Decision-making analysis tools will form a basis for much of this activity, where real-world issues will be discussed and solutions developed by the group on the basis of their learning to date.

Students are expected to attend all workshops and approximately 120 non-contact hours to study the full 3 unit course. It is highly advisable that students engage with the lecturer if they are struggling at any time during the teaching period.

Learning Activities Summary

Schedule
Session	Lecture Topic
1	Agricultural decision-making I: - Annual gross margin budgeting (GMB)
2	Agricultural decision-making II: - Perennials and livestock systems
3	Introducing capital into the equation: - Fixed v. variable costs - Choosing between multiple GMBs
4	Risk and uncertainty: - Theory – where capital is at risk - Decision trees - Stochastic analysis - State contingent analysis
5	Benefit-cost analysis I: - Introduction
6	Benefit-cost analysis II: - Risk and uncertainty
7	Consolidating the toolbox so far: - Reflection and further practical application
8	Optimization I: - Resource scarcity as a constraint - Basic optimization techniques
9	Optimization II: - Land use and multiple crop choices

The 最新糖心Vlog's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

The assessment tasks for this course are as follows:

Assessment Task	Task Type	Length	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Online Quizzes	Individual		4 x 5% (Total 20%)	2,3,4
Assignment 1	Individual		40%	1-5
Assignment 2	Individual		40%	1-5
Total			100%

For specific due dates and assessment detail please see MyUni.

Assessment Related Requirements

Students should attempt and finalize their Assignment assessments pieces using Microsoft Excel, as used in the class sessions. This will minimize confusion and ensure timely grading.

Assessment Detail

Short online quizzes
There will be four online quizzes aimed at testing key knowledge and learning from the prior lecture sessions.

Assignment 1
Students will be provided with extensive documentation (data) aimed at helping them develop a whole of farm budget. Students will be expected to assess this data via methods provided in the course and ultimately allocate land between alternative commodity choices to maximize profit outcomes.

Assignment 2
As an advanced decision-making assessment tool, students will be provided with all of the material needed to assess a long-term (i.e. 25 years+) investment into a perennial crops (e.g. almonds, oranges, grapes etc.) Using benefit-cost analysis techniques students will be expected to assess this data and complete a benefit-cost analysis including net-present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR) and internal rate of return (IRR) assessments.

Submission

Students must submit a softcopy of their assignments via MyUni, so that the assessment can be assessed via TURNITIN.

All submissions must be uploaded before midnight on the submission date.

Access to TURNITIN will be made available two weeks prior to the submission date to allow students to check the originality of their work before making a final submission.

The details will be provided on MyUni.
Any report submitted after the deadline will be considered late.
The penalty will be 4 marks out of 100 for every working day which elapses after the submission date.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

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SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the 最新糖心Vlog to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
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Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
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Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

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Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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