PCDR
Person wearing a lab coat and a hair net smiles, standing beside bakers' racks of bread.

Food and Agricultural Business Co-op Information for Employers

Adding Value to Your Team

Food is big business. It is Canada’s second largest industry, and in Ontario one in every five jobs is food related. In the Agricultural Business program, students acquire the management skills needed to succeed in the multi-million-dollar agribusiness industry. Students explore all areas of management, including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, production, organizational behaviour, policy planning and implementation. The University of Guelph is proud of our long-established history in agriculture.

University of Guelph Advantage

Our students develop a comprehensive management perspective based on an understanding of the complex relationships from input suppliers to producers and through to the eventual consumer. This includes, for example, food safety consultants, financial advisors, packagers, distributors, and marketing and sales agents. Students learn to relate these operations to an industry that is shaped by global issues including free trade, genetically modified foods, sustainable agriculture and the stability of commodities markets.

Our co-op process responds to your needs. Employers can post, hire and interview throughout the semester and our students are available for 4 or 8 month work terms. The Experience Guelph hiring tool makes hiring Guelph co-op students easy!

Student Strengths

 Critical Thinking

Excellent critical thinking, analytical and teamwork skills are developed as students complete extensive research projects.

 Knowledge

Students have the fundamental skills acquired in a Commerce degree with the additional advantage of applied knowledge of the agricultural industry

 Leadership

Leadership and communication skills are further enhanced developed through education, extracurricular involvement, and experiences both at school and at work.

Food and Agricultural Business Work Term Schedule

YEAR
 

FALL

 

WINTER

 

SUMMER

ONEAcademicAcademicOff
TWOAcademicAcademicWork
THREEWorkAcademicWork
FOURAcademicWorkWork
FIVEAcademicAcademic 

Food and Agricultural Business Course Sequencing

Please see the current undergraduate calendar for more information.

Fall

  • Introductory Marketing
  • Introductory Microeconomics
  • Business Mathematics
  • Introduction to Business

Winter

  • Economics of the Agri-Food System
  • Introductory Macroeconomics
  • Introductory Financial Accounting
  • 1 Elective or Restricted Elective

Fall 

  • Individuals and Groups In Organizations
  • Intermediate Microeconomics
  • Economic Statistics
  • Introduction to Co-operative Education
  • Business Communication
  • 1 Elective or Restricted Elective

Winter

  • Agri-Food Markets and Policy
  • Management Accounting
  • Introductory Mathematical Economics
  • Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Workplace
  • 1 Elective or Restricted
    Elective

Summer

Work Term One

Fall

Work Term Two

Winter

  • Information Management
  • Operations Management
  • Introduction to Econometrics
  • Introduction to Finance
  • Futures & Options Markets

Summer

Work Term Three

Fall

  • Principles of Responsible Organizations
  • 4 Electives or Restricted Electives

Winter

Work Term Four

Summer

Work Term Five

Fall

  • The Firm and Markets
  • Food and Agri Marketing Management
  • Strategic Management
  • One Of: Business and Consumer Law or Housing & Real Estate Law
  • 1 Elective or Restricted Elective

Winter

  • Agricultural and Food Policy
  • Advanced Agribusiness Management
  • 3 Electives or Restricted Electives
Restricted Electives

Electives must be chosen to ensure a minimum of 2 courses are completed from the following list:

  • Independent Studies I
  • Independent Studies II
  • International Food Sector and Policy Analysis
  • Food Security, Nutrition and International Development
  • Advanced Operations Management in the Agri-Food Sector
  • Poverty, Food and Hunger
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Resource Economics
  • Decision Science
  • Marketing Research
  • Survey of Natural Resource Economics
  • Supply and Value Chain Management
  • Agri-Food Retailing, Merchandising and Sales
  • Land Economics