Agribusiness

Picture yourself pricing a grain contract in the morning and scouting a canola field for pests by afternoon. Assiniboine’s Agribusiness diploma is a two-year, 123-credit programme taught at the Victoria Avenue East campus in Brandon, and it brings the science, business and technology sides of prairie farming together, with a paid co-op term between the two years.

Year one builds the agronomy and money foundations: Agribusiness Math, Financial Accounting 1, Crop Production Systems, Soil & Soil Fertility, Crop Pest Management and Pesticides in Agriculture, alongside the Agro-Ecology Field Laboratory, Communications and Technology, Occupational Health & Safety and Professional Development. Year two turns to running an agricultural business, with Agribusiness Management, Agribusiness Marketing, Commodity Marketing, Customer Relations, Agricultural Equipment, Livestock Production, Integrated Crop Management, Environmental Land Management and Precision Agriculture, and it closes with the Agribusiness Plan capstone, where you build a complete plan for an agricultural enterprise.

Teaching moves between the soils lab, a plant lab fitted with microscopes and growth chambers, outdoor field labs and the sustainable greenhouse at North Hill campus, with industry tours and guest speakers throughout. You work with AgExpert Analyst farm financial software and learn to read GPS and GIS data for precision agriculture. The Co-op Work Placement is at least 600 hours of full-time, paid work in the industry. Graduates leave with First Aid and WHMIS, are eligible for Manitoba Pesticide Applicator/Dispenser licensing, can challenge the Prairie Provinces’ Certified Crop Advisor exam and can seek Manitoba Institute of Agrologists membership as a Technical Agrologist. An agreement with the University of Minnesota Crookston recognises this training.

Agribusiness graduates move into grain companies, seed and fertiliser retailers, farm equipment dealerships, banks and credit unions, and government agencies as agronomy sales representatives, grain merchandisers, agricultural lending assistants, crop input retail staff, equipment sales associates or precision agriculture technicians. The diploma suits someone who enjoys both field work and figures, and who wants a business role close to the farm gate.