gE Blog Series: Agribusiness Part 6 - globalEDGE Agricultural Business Resources

Here at Michigan State University, agricultural business has played a very important role in the history and development of the university. In 1855, Michigan’s governor signed a bill establishing the nation’s first agriculture college, the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. The nation’s pioneer land-grant university later became known as Michigan State University. Created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University, globalEDGE has noted the importance of agriculture in our university’s foundation and the significant role agriculture plays in the international business world. For these reasons, globalEDGE provides many resources pertaining to agribusiness which can help you recognize the major international business trends in the agriculture industry.

The first globalEDGE section devoted to agricultural business can be found in the Reference Desk under Online Course Modules. Here you will find five online course modules dedicated entirely to agricultural business. Many topics are covered by these modules including global agricultural trade and the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Agriculture. The Global Agricultural Trade module provides information on the reasons behind increased international agricultural trade and interactive information on global agricultural production. The other agribusiness modules provide details about various provisions in the Agreement on Agriculture such as market access, export subsidy, and domestic support. All these course modules offer an interactive way for you to learn more about global agribusiness. To check out these agriculture business modules, please visit our Online Course Modules page.

On the globalEDGE website there is also an Agriculture Industry page that contains an in-depth look into the global agribusiness industry. This section provides an introduction page with a brief description and an overview of industry tendencies. The Agriculture Industry profile also offers a background section giving information on the composition, history, leaders, trends, major issues, and future outlook of the agricultural business industry. In addition to the background section, there is also a Trade Statistics page providing information on the exports and imports of major countries involved in international agricultural trade. There is another page listing agriculture events and conferences with information on their dates, locations, and descriptions. Last but not least is the resource section that contains links to many helpful agricultural business resources. The Agriculture Industry profile is a great resource designed to help you understand all the aspects of the global agribusiness industry.

After reading our blog series and becoming familiar with globalEDGE’s agricultural business resources, we hope you have a better understanding of the international trends in agribusiness. Throughout the series we have discussed many important features of agribusiness including new business models, organic farming, agriculture in emerging countries, and innovative uses of agriculture products. All these topics allow you to see the full picture of agribusiness and its role across the international business landscape.