Risks to Crop Production in Agriculture

Overview

Learners will be able to describe the crop production cycles of agriculture for annual and permanent crops, explain the financial characteristics and risks of food production, discuss the various types of land ownership and rental agreements for the use of agricultural land, and describe personal, external, and food production risks that influence decision-making in agriculture. This course is part of the College of ACES suite of online programs, including the graduate certificate, "Agribusiness and Sustainable Food Production Economics" that can be stacked toward an advanced degree in the College of ACES or the Gies College of Business. To learn more about online programs from the College of ACES and explore ways to apply your Coursera work toward a degree program at the University of Illinois, visit ACES Online at acesonline.illinois.edu.

Syllabus

ORIENTATION & MODULE 1 | Crop Production Cycle

In the course orientation, you will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course. In the second part of this module, you will define a crop, explain the crop production cycles, and describe the characteristics and differences between annual crops and permanent crops.

MODULE 2 | Financial Characteristics and Risks in Agriculture

In this module, you will define the characteristics and structure of a farm, explain the financial risks and capital intensity of agriculture, and describe the timing and volatility of cash flow in production agriculture.

MODULE 3 | Land Tenure

In this module, you will describe the types of land ownership, explain rental agreement options for agricultural land, and examine concerns of sustainability of agricultural land.

MODULE 4 | Other Factors Influencing Risk and Decision-Making in Agriculture

In this module, you will describe personal, external, and farm production risks that influence decision-making practices. Specifically, you will investigate policy, global trade, energy use, and legal issues of off-farm and on-farm risks.