Course Descriptions

These course descriptions are linked to the NMSU Online catalogs and are the most current versions of these documents.

Undergraduate Course Descriptions Online
AG E

Graduate Course Descriptions Online
AEEC

Agricultural Economics Course Descriptions

AG E 100. Introductory Agricultural Economics and Business3 cr.
Orientation to agricultural supply businesses, farm and ranch production, food markets, food processing and distribution, and food consumption. Microeconomic principles for managers.

AG E 111. Freshman Orientation 1 cr.
Orientation to university life, including available resources and methods to promote success at NMSU. General exposure to fields in agriculture and home economics. Open to all freshmen and transfer students. Graded S/U.

AG E 200. Special Topics 1-4 cr.
Specific subjects and credits to be announced in the Schedule of Classes. Maximum of 4 credits per semester. No more than 9 credits toward a degree.

AG E 210G. Survey of Food and Agricultural Issues 3 cr.
Survey of food and agricultural issues, including: geography of food production and consumption, human-agricultural-natural resource relations, agriculture in the United States and abroad, modern agribusiness, food safety, food, agriculture, and natural resources policy, ethical questions, role and impact of technology. Same as HNFS 210G.

AG E 236. Agribusiness Management Principles3 cr.
Description and application of management and financial principles, market planning, and organization theory in small business situations.

AG E 250. Life with Microcomputers 3 cr. (2+2P)
Provides appreciation of the microcomputer in all areas of life. Applications to informational analysis in a wide variety of social, business, technological, and research situations are presented using DOS and utilities, word processing, electronic spreadsheets, and database systems. Emphasis is on fundamental understanding of how to apply software. Place of the computer in the "larger picture" is emphasized.

AG E 300. Internship 1-4 cr.
Professional work experience under the supervision of a faculty member. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits.

AG E 305. Marketing and Pricing Agricultural Products 3 cr.
Description of agricultural processes and functions; food production and consumption patterns; agricultural product prices; nature of competition in agricultural product markets; commodity markets. Prerequisites: ECON 201 or ECON 252. Same as MKTG 305.

AG E 311. Financial Futures Markets 3 cr.
Emphasis on financial instruments, currencies, and stock index futures. Principles of hedging, arbitrage, speculation, technical and fundamental price analysis, and trading strategies. Simulated computer trading game. Same as FIN 311.

AG E 315V. World Agriculture and Food Problems 3 cr.
Survey of food and agricultural issues in the U.S. and other countries. Covers: role of agriculture in economic development; trade in food and agricultural products; global food production, consumption, and marketing patterns; economics of technical change and food assistance; agriculture and the environment. Same as GEOG 315G.

AG E 325. Mastering Financial Agricultural Statements 3 cr.
Understanding, using, and constructing financial statements for agrobusiness analysis. Learn how to produce integrated pro forma financial statements first on paper and then on a spreadsheet. Prepare and link revenue, cost, and financing input assumptions formulas to the financial outcomes on the spreadsheet. Prerequisite: AG E 250G or equivalent experience using spreadsheets. Same as ANSC 325.

AG E 330V. Organic Fall Vegetable Production (f) 3 cr.
Planning, planting, and harvesting vegetable crops following federal guidelines for certified organic production. Emphasis on planting fall crops, harvesting summer crops, and planning spring crops. Sale of produce through community-supported agriculture system. Distribution; financial management; and fertility, weed, disease, and insect-pest evaluation and management. Evaluation of crop production and financial performance from previous spring. Same as HORT 330.

AG E 331V. Organic Spring Vegetable Production (s) 3 cr.
Planning, planting, and harvesting vegetable crops following federal guidelines for certified organic production. Emphasis on planting spring and summer crops, harvesting spring crops, and planning summer and fall crops. Sale of produce through community-supported agriculture system. Distribution; financial management; and fertility, weed, disease, and insect-pest evaluation and management. Evaluation of crop production and financial performance from previous fall. Same as HORT 330.

AG E 337V. Natural Resource Economics 3 cr.
Gain insight into important natural resource problems of our time. Apply economic principles to problems in the preservation, use, and development of agricultural, range, mineral, water, forestry, fishery, and environmental resources. Understand the use of cost-benefit analysis for government natural-resource projects, policies, and programs. Prerequisite: ECON 201 or ECON 252. Same as ECON 337G.

AG E 340. Agricultural Prices 3 cr.
Focuses on the analysis of supply and demand characteristics of commodities with particular attention to agricultural products. Pays special attention to empirical analysis. Includes institutional aspects of pricing, temporal and spatial price relationships, price forecasting, and the economic consequences of pricing decisions. Prerequisite(s): ECON 252G

AG E 355. Community Economic Development 1-3 cr.
Same as PLAN 355.

AG E 370. Current Issues in Food and Agriculture 3 cr.
Course will consist of analysis and evaluation of current agricultural issues such as animal welfare/rights, water rights, sustainable agriculture, saving the family farm, food safety, foreign agricultural assistance, and others. Alternative perspectives on the issues and policy implications will be discussed.

AG E 380. Agricultural Economics Survey (s) 3 cr.
Survey of businesses and industries involved with agriculture, farming and ranching, environmental and resource concerns. Field trip over spring break. Prerequisite: junior or above standing. Variable fee. Graded S/U.

AG E 384V. Water Resource Economics 3 cr.
Use of economic principles to evaluate current and emerging issues in water resources. Applications focus on use of economic methods of analysis to current policy decisions surrounding agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses of water. Prerequisite: AG E 100 or ECON 252G. Same as ECON 384G.

AG E 385. Applied Production Economics 3 cr.
Marginal economic principles of agricultural production and planning with practical application in describing, analyzing, and profit maximizing agribusiness strategies. Prerequisite: ECON 252 or consent of instructor.

AG E 400. Seminar 1 cr.
Current topics and cases in the agribusiness literature stressing rigorous qualitative analysis of current problems and policy issues. Prerequisite: junior standing or above. May be repeated for a maximum of 4 credits. Graded S/U.

AG E 406. The Economics of Sports 3 cr.
Applying the tools of economic analysis to a particular industry and gaining an in-depth knowledge of the interaction of professional sports teams and leagues with the economy and society. Same as ECON 406.

AG E 420. Special Problems 1-3 cr.
Special problems in agricultural economics or agricultural business of particular interest to the individual student. Maximum of 3 credits per semester. No more then 6 credits toward degree.

AG E 425. Agribusiness Financial Management 3 cr.
Description and application of techniques and principles of financial management to problem situations faced by small businesses, including capital budgeting, sources and costs of capital, controlling the use of assets, tax management, estate planning, and credit institutions. Prerequisite: ECON 201G or ECON 252G and FIN 306.

AG E 440. Ranch Economics 3 cr.
Economic principles related to western ranch business. Business management, economic characteristics of ranches, ranch land problems and values, and economics of rangeland use. Prerequisite: ECON 201G or ECON 252G.

AG E 445V. Agricultural Policy 3 cr.
Historical and cultural background of food and agricultural policy in the United States. Analysis of food and agricultural problems, policy-making and implementation. Economic evaluation of specific U.S. food and agricultural policy instruments, their domestic and international impacts. Prerequisites: ECON 251G and ECON 252G.

AG E 450. Advanced Microcomputer Applications in Agriculture 3 cr.
Emphasis on advanced farm/ranch and agribusiness personal computer applications including database for management decisions, spreadsheet design, presentation software, word processing, the Windows operating system, and using World Wide Web. Prerequisite: AG E 250G or consent of instructor.

AG E 451. Agribusiness Market Planning 3 cr.
Applications course where self-managed teams develop and present marketing plans for agribusiness firms. Emphasis on integrating the marketing mix, particularly promotional elements. Prerequisites: AG E 305 and consent of instructor. Same as MKTG 451.

AG E 452. Food and Agricultural Products Marketing Research Techniques and Written and Oral Presentation Skills 3 cr.
This course focuses on learning marketing research methods applicable to developing new food and agricultural products and repositioning existing products for new markets. Students will be required to prepare precise written and oral marketing plans to industry standards and will have opportunities to present written and oral plans at national competitions. Prerequistie(s): AG E 451 or MKTG 451.

AG E 456. International Agribusiness and Food Marketing 3 cr.
Introduces students to the fundamentals of international agribusiness: structure of global food and agribusiness trade, direct foreign investment strategies, exchange rates, channels of distribution, trade lead sources, financing, letters of credit, and export market planning. Prerequisites: ECON 251G or consent of instructor. Main campus only.

AG E 470. Rural Appraisal 3 cr. (2+2P)
Factors affecting land prices, commercial and federal appraisal, procedures used in valuation, field trips for practice in making rural appraisals. Prerequisite: junior or above standing. Same as FIN 470.

AG E 475. Water Resource Management and Policy 3 cr.
Emphasis on integrating natural and social sciences, analytic methods, and critical reasoning skills to evaluate water resource policy and management issues. Extensive use of data and numerical applications applied to a variety of water resource topics. Familiarity with MS Excel or similar software is desirable. Prerequisite: junior or above standing.

AG E 491. Linear Programming Methods 1 cr.
Methods, techniques, and uses of linear and quadratic programming applications in agricultural economics.

AG E 499. Senior Project 3 cr.
Completion and presentation of the project developed in AG E 498 under supervision of the project advisor. Prerequisite: AG E 498; may not be taken for graduate credit.

Agricultural Economics and Economics Course Descriptions

AEEC 501. Microeconomic Theory 3 cr.
A rigorous reexamination of the pricing mechanism in the goods and factor markets. Development of theoretical tools of general applicability. Prerequisite: ECON 457 or consent of instructor.

AEEC 502. Macroeconomic Theory 3 cr.
Contemporary aggregative theory regarding the interrelationships among national income, employment, the price level, money supply and interest rates, and implications of this theory for public policy in a mixed economy.

AEEC 511. Advanced Futures and Options Markets 3 cr.
Advanced hedging and speculating strategies using futures and options contracts. Coverage includes interest rates, stock indexes, metals, currencies, livestock, and grains. Concepts of price analysis (technical and fundamental) and basis analysis; technical paper is required. Prerequisite: AG E 310 or AG E 311, AG E 425 or FIN 306, or consent of instructor.

AEEC 520. International Agricultural Trade Theory and Policy 3 cr.
Review and analysis of international trade models. Analysis of the effects of trade instruments such as tariffs, quotas, and subsidies on welfare and income distribution. Analysis of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements and their effect on the agricultural sector from both country-specific and global perspectives. Prerequisite: ECON 371.

AEEC 521. Comparative Economic Systems 3 cr.
Theoretical capitalism and socialism are used to analyze real-world economic arrangements in Western, Eastern, and developing nations. Prerequisites: any previous courses in macroeconomics and in microeconomics.

AEEC 522. Public Sector Economics I 3 cr.
Introduction to the economic rationale for government intervention in the economy and the effects of that intervention on economic agents and the economy in general. Emphasis on the expenditure side of government policies. Prerequisite: ECON 334 or ECON 434. Same as GOVT 522.

AEEC 523. Public Sector Economics II 3 cr.
A continuation of AEEC 522. Concentrates on the economic effects of taxation. Same as GOVT 523.

AEEC 524. Policy Evaluation Techniques 3 cr.
A survey of methods used in the economic evaluation and assessment of private and public sector policies with emphasis on the mathematical and econometric modeling of the fiscal impacts. Prerequisite: AEEC 540 or consent of instructor.

AEEC 528. Economic Development 3 cr.
A graduate-level exposition of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory of why and how nations allocate resources to grow and develop. Strong emphasis is given to understanding the economic problems facing developing nations.

AEEC 540. Econometrics 3 cr.
An integration of economic and statistical techniques for research in agricultural economics and economics. Prerequisite: one of the following: ECON 405, ECON 425, E ST 502, E ST 505.

AEEC 545. Advanced Agricultural Policy 3 cr.
Historical and cultural background of food and agricultural policy in the United States. Analysis of food and agricultural problems, policy-making and implementation. Economic evaluation of specific U.S. food and agricultural policy instruments, their domestic and international impacts. Same as AG E 445G with additional work required at the graduate level. Cannot receive credit for both AG E 445G and AEEC 545. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

AEEC 550. Advanced Microcomputer Applications in Agriculture 3 cr.
An advanced course in electronic spreadsheets and the concepts and tools of database management emphasizing agricultural applications. Prerequisites: AG E 250G, CS 110G or consent of instructor. Same as A GE 450 with additional work required at the graduate level. Cannot receive credit for both AG E 450 and AEEC 550.

AEEC 551. Advanced Agribusiness Marketing 3 cr.
Applications course in which self-managed teams apply marketing theory in the development and presentation of marketing plans for food and agribusiness firms. Course includes analysis of marketing problems with emphasis on strategic marketing issues changing trade policies, and global competiveness. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

AEEC 554. Advanced Public Utilities Regulations 3 cr.
Analysis of revenue requirement components, application of industry and commission cost of service models; costing and pricing methodologies and their application to present day economic environments of energy and telecommunications. Prerequisite: ECON 455.

AEEC 555. Seminar in Public Utilities Regulation 3 cr.
Marginal-cost and Ramsey optimal pricing, regulatory bias, optimal system planning and control, empirical evaluation of systems through time.

AEEC 562. Management of Development Projects 2 cr.
Use of project management techniques in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects. Focus on time, personnel, and resource constraints critical to successful implementation of development projects.

AEEC 575. Advanced Water Resource Management and Policy 3 cr.
Integrating natural and social sciences, analytical methods, and critical reasoning skills to evaluate water resource issues. Extensive use of data and numerical techniques applied to a variety of water resource topics. Familiarity with MS Excel or similar software desirable. Same as AG E 475, with additional work required at graduate level.

AEEC 580. Natural Resources and Environmental Policy 3 cr.
Surveys and analyzes natural resource and environmental policy, both domestic and global, in terms of content and context, policy, processes, policy models, levels of government, and values and ethical positions. Includes public lands policies, private property issues, air and water quality, waste disposal, energy and sustainable development with emphasis on natural resources and agriculture. Same as GOVT 530.

AEEC 585. Production Economics 3 cr.
Application of microeconomic theory to problems and decisions of food and agricultural firms. The theoretical foundation of production economics and the theory of the firm are developed. Prerequisites: MATH 142G and ECON 371.

AEEC 590. Special Topics 3 cr.
Seminars in selected current topics in the various areas of agricultural economics and economics. Offerings will carry a subtitle. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

AEEC 591. Agribusiness Management Seminar 1 cr.
One agribusiness topic or firm will be investigated in depth each semester. Production, marketing, accounting, finance, policy, and/or business environment issues will be emphasized. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. May be repeated for a maximum of 4 credits.

AEEC 593. Internship 1-6 cr.
Supervised professional on-the-job training experience in policy analysis.

AEEC 594. Internship 1-6 cr.
One semester to six months internship with a regulated firm or public utility commission. A faculty member will direct and evaluate the internship. For AEEC regulatory option students only.

AEEC 595. Internship (f,s,su) 1-6 cr. Supervised professional on-the-job learning
experience. Limited to Master of Agriculture candidates. No more than 6 credits toward a degree.

AEEC 596. Individual Study 1-3 cr.
Individual study programs. Each offering will carry a subtitle. Maximum of 3 credits in a semester and 6 credits in a program. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

AEEC 598. Special Research Programs or Creative Component 1-6 cr.
Individual investigations, either analytical or experimental. Maximum of 3 credits per semester. No more than 6 credits toward a degree. Restricted to AEEC majors.

AEEC 599. Master’s Thesis var. cr.
Thesis.