Agribusiness refers to the business of farming, although, oddly, the term is not often used

in correlation with actual farms. Instead, the term agribusiness most commonly means an
agriculturally-related business that supplies farm inputs, such as farm machinery and seed
supply.

The term "agribusiness" is also used to describe businesses that are involved in the
marketing of farm products, such as warehouses, wholesalers, processors, retailers and
more.

Use of the term agribusiness by critics of corporate farming has created an aura of
negativity around the term, although the true definition simply provides a nice shorthand
way of saying a business is agriculture-related.

"Agribusiness" has come to be synonymous with large corporations and companies that
produce environmentally questionable, non-organic products while ensuring that smaller,
potentially sustainable farms fail to turn a profit.

Examples of Agribusiness Companies

Deere & Company, which makes John Deere equipment, may be one of the best-known
examples of a classic agribusiness company. The firm doesn't own farms or produce food
products, but nearly every farmer owns a John Deere tractor, baler or some other piece of
the quintessential green and gold farm equipment.

Monsanto Company, which manufactures the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) plus

various Roundup Ready genetically modified seeds, is another example of an
agribusiness company, as is Dow AgroSciences LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Dow Chemical Company).

Dow AgroSciences makes pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, and markets seeds.

Finally, the Archer Daniels Midland Company, or ADM, processes oilseeds like canola
and soy, processes corn into ingredients such as corn syrup, dextrose, and starch, and
transports crops both nationally and internationally.

The term "agribusiness" generally isn't used to refer to actual farms, although Smithfield
Foods, Inc., the largest U.S. producer of pork, owns and runs its own farms. Smithfield is
owned by Chinese company WH Group (formerly Shuanghui International), which now
is the largest pork producer in the world and the largest meat producer in China.

It's possible to major in agribusiness in a variety of different colleges and universities

across the U.S., ranging from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. to Iowa State University.
Degrees focus on the economics of farm management and the science of agricultural
management.

Agribusiness vs. Organic Farming

Currently, in the United States, you'll normally hear the term agribusiness used in
contrast to organic agricultural businesses. For example, many people, when talking
about large-scale commercial agricultural operations will use the term agribusiness, but
you won't hear the term used in relation to small scale, organic farms.

In fact, small family farms, smaller organic agriculture companies and organic farmers
often feel they have to compete with giant agribusiness companies when looking to gain a
place in the agricultural marketplace. There's a persistent feeling among family farmers
that they're an endangered species, due to the encroachment of agribusiness and corporate
farms.

However, small organic farms often use agribusiness products (i.e., a John Deere tractor).
In addition, small organic farms aren't necessarily competing with larger, corporate-
owned farms for the same market. For example, a customer who prefers to buy pastured
pork (perhaps because it's humanely produced and because it has a higher level of
beneficial nutrients) is unlikely to view conventionally produced, store-bought pork as an
acceptable substitute.

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-agribusiness-2538209
DEFINITION of 'Agribusiness'
The business sector encompassing farming and farming-related commercial activities.
Agribusiness involves all the steps required to send an agricultural good to market:
production, processing, and distribution. It is an important component of countries with
arable land, since agricultural products can be exported.

BREAKING DOWN 'Agribusiness'

Agribusiness treats the different aspects of raising agricultural products as an integrated
system. Farmers raise animals and harvest fruits and vegetables with the help of
sophisticated harvesting techniques, including the use of GPS to direct harvesting
operations. Manufacturers develop more efficient machines that can drive themselves.
Processing plants determine the best way to clean and package livestock for shipping.
While each subset of the industry is unlikely to interact directly with the consumer, each
is focused on operating efficiently in order to keep prices reasonable.

Market forces have a significant impact on the agribusiness sector. Changes in

consumer taste alter what products are grown and raised. For example, a shift in
consumer tastes away from red meat may cause demand (and prices) for beef to fall,
while increased demand for produce may shift the mix of fruits and vegetables that
farmers raise. Businesses unable to rapidly change in accordance to domestic demand
may look to export their product abroad, but if that fails they may not be able to stay in
business.

Countries with farming industries face consistent pressures from global competition.
Products such as wheat, corn, and soybeans tend to be similar in different locations,
making them commodities. Remaining competitive requires agribusinesses to operate
more efficiently, which can require investments in new technologies, new ways of
fertilizing and watering crops, and new ways of connecting to the global market. Global
prices of agricultural products may change rapidly, making production planning a
complicated activity. Farmers may also face a reduction in usable land as suburban and
urban areas move into their areas.

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agribusiness

Agribusiness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Agribusiness: a display of a John Deere 7800 tractor with Houle slurry trailer, Case IH combine harvester, New
Holland FX 25 forage harvester with corn head

Agribusiness is the business of agricultural production. The term was coined in 1957 by Goldberg
and Davis. It includes agrichemicals, breeding, crop production (farmingand contract farming),
distribution, farm machinery, processing, and seed supply, as well as marketing and retail sales. All
agents of the food and fiber value chain and those institutions that influence it are part of the
agribusiness system.
Within the agriculture industry, "agribusiness" is used simply as a portmanteau of agriculture and
business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food
production. There are academic degrees in and departments of agribusiness, agribusiness trade
associations, agribusiness publications, and so forth, worldwide.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) operates a section devoted to agribusiness
development[1] which seeks to promote food industry growth in developing nations.
In the context of agribusiness management in academia, each individual element of agriculture
production and distribution may be described as agribusinesses. However, the term "agribusiness"
most often emphasizes the "interdependence" of these various sectors within the production chain.[2]
Among critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertically integrated food production, the
term agribusiness is used negatively, synonymous with corporate farming. As such, it is often
contrasted with smaller family-owned farms.

Contents
[hide]

1Examples
2Studies and reports
3See also
4Notes and references
5Further reading
Examples[edit]
Examples of agribusinesses include seed and agrichemical producers like Dow
AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta; AB Agri (part of Associated British Foods) animal
feeds, biofuels, and micro-ingredients, ADM, grain transport and processing; John Deere, farm
machinery producer; Ocean Spray, farmer's cooperative; and Purina Farms, agritourism farm.
As concern over global warming intensifies, biofuels derived from crops are gaining increased public
and scientific attention. This is driven by factors such as oil price spikes, the need for
increased energy security, concern over greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and support
from government subsidies. In Europe and in the US, increased research and production
of biofuels has been mandated by law.[3]

Studies and reports[edit]

Studies of agribusiness often come from the academic fields of agricultural
economics and management studies, sometimes called agribusiness management.[2] To promote
more development of food economies, many government agencies support the research and
publication of economic studies and reports exploring agribusiness and agribusiness practices.
Some of these studies are on foods produced for export and are derived from agencies focused on
food exports. These agencies include the Foreign Agricultural Service(FAS) of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Austrade, and New Zealand Trade and
Enterprise(NZTE). The Federation of International Trade Associations publishes studies and reports
by FAS and AAFC, as well as other non-governmental organizations on its website.[4]
Ray A. Goldberg coined the term agribusiness together with coauthor John H. Davis. They provided
a rigorous economic framework for the field in their book A Concept of Agribusiness (Boston:
Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1957). That
seminal work traces a complex value-added chain that begins with the farmer's purchase of seed
and livestock and ends with a product fit for the consumer's table. Agribusiness boundary expansion
is driven by a variety of transaction costs.[citation needed]
Manuel Alvarado Ledesma (CEMA University, Argentina) and Peter D. Goldsmith (University of
Illinois) explain the implications of weak institutions on agribusiness investment. According to them
weak institutions lead to policy development and enforcement grounded in the moment, rather than
based on precedent and deliberative processes over time.