Program Overview

Business and Markets Program Overview

The Business and Markets major is designed for students interested in applying economics to understand how market structures, business practices, and international trade impact food supply and security worldwide. This major allows students to explore agri-business and choose restricted electives from courses offered by the Sauder School of Business, such as marketing, finance, and accounting.

Why Study Business and Markets?

The Business and Markets major addresses critical questions, including how a significant portion of the global population can be undernourished while up to 30 percent of available food is wasted, and how the federal carbon tax affects food affordability. Students learn to use economic theories and data analysis to answer these questions, gaining a nuanced understanding of food markets and the tools to analyze them.

Program Structure

• The first year of the program involves courses similar to those taken by students majoring in Economics.
• In the second year, students begin training in food and resource economics through introductory courses and statistical analysis, and start choosing restricted electives with the Business and Markets major in mind.
• The third and fourth years involve taking upper-year FRE courses, a large number of restricted electives, and eligible courses offered by the Sauder School of Business, with options for international development.

Sample Courses

Professors in the Food and Resource Economics group work alongside disciplinary peers in the Vancouver School of Economics and the Sauder School of Business, as well as interdisciplinary peers in UBC’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. Sample courses include:

• FRE_V 306: Introduction to Global Food Markets
• ECON_V 255: Understanding Globalization
• LFS_V 252: Land, Food, and Community: Quantitative Data Analysis
• FRE_V 374: Land and Resource Economics
• FRE_V 394: Environment, Society and Government
• FNH_V 420: The Economics of International Trade and the Environment
• FRE_V 460: Economics of Food Consumption
• FRE_V 474: Economics of Global Resource Use and Conservation

Minors

Students may opt to supplement their Business and Markets major with a minor program, involving courses in a subject area outside of their specialization. Eligible minors include Arts, Commerce, Science, Fermentations, Sustainable Food Systems, or Kinesiology.

Admission Requirements

• Direct Entry: Students applying directly from high school must follow the Faculty of Land and Food Systems application procedures.
• Second Year Entry: Students can apply after completing 24 credits of first-year university-level courses, with requirements including MATH 100 and ECON 101 (or equivalent), and ideally ECON 102 and MATH 101 (or equivalent). A minimum academic standing of 70% (or 2.80 on a 4-point scale) is required, along with a one- to two-page letter of intent.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the Food and Resource Economics program are equipped to work as analysts for agencies focused on social economic outcomes, firms in international trade in agri-food products, companies in the renewable energy sector, or enterprises processing food products. They may also pursue graduate programs in environmental sciences, applied and natural resource economics, public policy, and business. Top graduates are frequently admitted to the highly competitive Masters of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE) program.