Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business
ONLINE Programs & Workshops
Our online programs and micro-courses give you access to outstanding faculty and top-quality experts in agribusiness management with a convenient, flexible format.
IN PERSON PROGRAMS & wORKSHOPS
In the classroom, interact with faculty experts in programs designed to help develop your skills in sales, management, finance, strategic decision making, and more.
cUSTOM pROGRAMMING
Partner with us to design, develop and deliver a program that applies directly to your company’s educational needs and offers the benefits of team learning.
Enhance Your Career
You need a dynamic set of skills to lead in today’s ever-evolving agribusiness industry. That’s why we’re here. We understand the industry you serve, and we can help advance your skill set and transform your thinking through the educational and research experiences we offer.
Upcoming Programs
Purdue Food and Agribusiness Executive Summit
June 6-8, 2023 The Purdue Food and Agribusiness Executive Summit encourages strategic thinking by bringing key leaders together for networking and exchanging ideas regarding domestic and global issues impacting our industry.
Precision Selling: Building Relationships with Large Farmers
July 18-19, 2023 (Indiana) or August 8-9, 2023 (California) Learn strategies for working with large-scale producers in the evolving agricultural marketplace. Explore complexities of working with growers and delve into sales strategy.
ASTA Management Academy
August 15-17, 2023 During the ASTA Management Academy, you’ll take a deep dive into the practical application of general management concepts vital to the long-term success of seed firms, discuss the changing agribusiness environment and implications for the seed industry, explore marketing strategies and more.
Purdue Food & Agribusiness Quarterly Review
FEatured Blog Posts
Non-traditional Lenders in the Ag Credit Markets
Commercial banks and the Farm Credit System have been the dominant lenders to farmers for the past century, but new participants have entered the ag credit markets in recent years. This group includes ag input suppliers, and in more recent times, specialized collateral-based lenders that use land or other assets as the collateral for their farm loans. These “non-traditional lenders” have been consistently capturing market share in the agricultural credit markets since the 1980s financial crisis in agriculture. In 2019, they held almost 13% of the total farm sector debt (USDA) and accounted for 30% of the active loans based on data from the Kansas Farm Management Association. We know little about these non-traditional lenders because they do not face the same public reporting requirements as traditional lenders. The purpose of our study — Strategic Behavior of Non-traditional Lenders in the Agricultural Credit Markets — was to examine the credit products, operational performance and business models of these new players in the ag credit markets.
Creating Social Impact with an Eye Towards Profitability
One thing that has always been clear to those in agribusiness is how closely our communities and businesses are united. While other industries are beginning to realize that managing the ecosystem’s health is the right thing to do to sustain long-term business, farmers and food production organizations inherently understand this.
Creating an Integrated and Cohesive Marketing Strategy
As marketing managers know, creating an integrated and cohesive marketing strategy has many moving parts. They must continually examine where they are and where they need to be, while trying to efficiently and effectively allocate limited resources across multiple functions related to the marketing plan.
Betty Jones-Bliss, associate director for Purdue University’s Center for Food and Agricultural Business, recently asked Scott Downey and Justin Funk a few questions regarding elements important to a successful marketing strategy.