Overview
This unit prepares you for an industry placement in the area of cropping enterprise management. You will build on your existing theoretical knowledge of cropping production systems from units already completed in the Bachelor of Agriculture course to conduct a business strategy assessment relevant to your host enterprise.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Co-requisites AGRI12008 Sustainable Crop Production Prerequisite AGRI11002 Crop Management Systems
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from In-class feedback
Assessment clarification was helpful
Lecturers will continue to provide clear assessment instructions and ensure all required information is provided on the Moodle site and in class.
Feedback from In-class feedback
Enjoyed having impressive guest lecturers
Lecturers will continue to invite a diverse range of guest lecturers where possible.
- Communicate appropriately within the cropping industry.
- Analyse physical and financial cropping performance.
- Prepare a business plan.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 10% | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 10% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
c.j.oneill@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
The first week is an introduction to AGRI12009. This unit prepares you for an industry placement in a cropping enterprise. This entails analysing both the physical and financial performance of a cropping business, interviewing a farmer, presenting that information and preparing a report on a case-study cropping enterprise.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
This week we will take a general view of agricultural business assessment, but with particular reference to why timelines are imperative.
The guest lecture is from Mr Chris Harris, principal of C.T. Harris and Company. The firm of chartered accounts will be supplying the farm case-study data (Assessment 3) later in the term.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessing both the physical and financial performance of an agricultural business forms the basis of the lecture/tutorial.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The focus this week is communication. The guest lecturer is Mr Peter Long (Peter Long Consultancy)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment 1. Cropping business assessment tool (30%) Due: Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Week 5 is devoted to marketing strategies and international trade with particular reference to the impact of international subsidies on Australian farmers. The guest speaker is Camille Conway, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA).
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The QDAF day will be a series or presentations from officers of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF) followed by a Q&A session moderated by Kylie Hopkins (QDAF).
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Please note the QDAF day will start at 9:30 AM and conclude at 4:30 PM and located at the Harvard Lecture theatre.
Module/Topic
The lecture session will be devoted to student presentations from their interviews with the allocated farmer. There will be both individual and group evaluations to identify any gaps in the presentation. Each student will be required to evaluate a fellow students’ presentation - highlight the good points and a suggestion for improvement. The guest evaluator is Professor Jim Kinder from the Ohio State University. The tutorial will be devoted to working on the presentation to either accept or reject feedback from the evaluations. A pdf of the presentation is to be submitted for marking (Assessment 2).
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Please note there is no lecture in Week 7 only student presentations.
Module/Topic
The long-term considerations when an agricultural business is assessed on economic, environmental and social factors. Guest presentations and discussions. Our guest lecturers this week are from different aspects for the agricultural industry, but with a common theme of sustainability: Sonya Ghiggioli, the BarefootfarmHer; and Myles Ballentine, Namgoorl.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Both the lecture and tutorial sessions will be devoted to information storage and processing that will enable the farmer to assess the physical and financial performance of their enterprise: Rob Newcombe, DataMuster
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Understanding the whole-farm business plans and the current and future labour markets. Business plans must facilitate the transition from innovation to adoption
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessment of business strategies and a guest presentation from Dr Lauren O'Connor, DataMuster.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Help with assessment 3 and wrap up
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment 3. Cropping business report Due: Week 12 Friday (5 June 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Dr Christopher O'Neill - Unit Coordinator - M: 0497 146 183 Email: c.j.oneill@cqu.edu.au
Teaching team: Mr Saba Sinai-Mameghany - Email: s.sinai-mameghany@cqu.edu.au>
1 Written Assessment
Develop an outline business assessment tool identifying the key information and outputs that would be required to assess a cropping enterprise. In your assessment tool, you should explicitly identify how you would collate, analyse and present the information as part of a cropping business report. The tool should include details on how to benchmark current physical and financial performance, how you would identify future direction options and how you would develop a future business plan. While developing a cropping/livestock business assessment tool you should be considering how this might be linked to future innovation options for a cropping/livestock business. The assessment item should be a business assessment tool that can be used to gather information for a business report. The tool should have clearly defined sections and identify explicit questions and information that will be gathered from a farmer as part of the second assessment. The assessment tool will also be used for Assessment 3 where you will have access to a data set from a case-study farming enterprise (profit and loss and balance sheet). You are to assume the location of the property is in the central Queensland region of study.
Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 5 Friday (10 Apr 2020)
All assessments will be returned to students 10 working days after the due date.
You will be assessed on:
· Demonstration that you can link information gathering to analyses
· Demonstration that you have researched the practicality and relevance of the information you will seek to gather
· Presentation of the document
Further details and a marking rubric will be available on the Moodle page.
- Analyse physical and financial cropping performance.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Practical Assessment
Using the business assessment tool developed in Assessment 1, you are required to interview your nominated farmer about the key physical and financial influences on their production system. During the interview, you should identify the market for their product so you can ask questions to establish how that links back to their on-farm practices (note: you require details of the strategic decisions they make, not just the crop targets). You are then required to summarise the key points from your interview in a 12-minute PowerPoint presentation (i.e., about 12 slides) that should be pitched to a non-expert. The presentation ought to include: · an introduction of the enterprise. · an outline of the key physical and financial influences of the production system gathered from the producer. · details of strategic priorities. · your assessment of the farmer's willingness/capacity to engage in new practices and/or technologies. · an example(s) of an interview question with answer. · conclusion.
Week 8 Wednesday (6 May 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (15 May 2020)
All assessments will be returned to students 10 working days after the due date.
You will be assessed on: · Demonstration that you can engage with the farmer and are able to communicate and respond to their information.
There will be two aspects to the assessment: 1) a practice presentation for peer group discussion and evaluation; and 2) make any changes deemed necessary and convert the PowerPoint presentation into a pdf file for submission by due date 6/05/2020 for marking. The class presentation will also be evaluated by school staff and Professor Jim Kinder (The Ohio State University). Please regard this presentation as a draft and use feedback from your talk to improve your Assessment 2 and/or ask further questions of the farmer. Your contribution to the group evaluation will receive a mark in the ‘Audience engagement’ section of the Assessment 2 marking rubric.
Further details and a marking rubric will be available on the Moodle page.
- Communicate appropriately within the cropping industry.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Written Assessment
Using the data and information supplied from a case study of a mixed farming (livestock/cropping) enterprise you are required to write a business report that is a focus on the cropping aspect of the enterprise. This report should present a summary of your assessment of the enterprise and through analyses identify business strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Consider a proposal for a new business venture or adoption of an innovation. Hence, identify where there are business opportunities for change and link these to the application of an area of emerging innovation. The report should also identify how the business can use ongoing monitoring to track progress against clearly defined goals. The report should include: · A brief overview of the industry and enterprise · Physical and financial performance · Threats and opportunities · Analysis of business performance · Propose a new business venture or adoption of an innovation (if applicable and if not why) · To illustrate your conclusions, use examples from the case-study data The following is a guideline of the structure of your business report: 7. Title Page 8. Table of Contents 9. Executive Summary 10. Introduction 11. Business Environment Strategic Goals 12. Operational Planning 13. Financial Plan and Analysis 14. Legal Obligations and Risk Management 15. Performance Management 16. Implementation Strategies and Review 17. Conclusion 18. References Note: You do not have to follow this structure exactly and include all elements listed above, but the list should help to ensure that critical elements are included in your document. Your report is to tell a story of the enterprise as a business. Number of words: 2,500-3,000 Note: The word count excludes Tables, Table of Contents, Reference List and Appendices.
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Friday (12 June 2020)
All assessments will be returned to students 10 working days after the due date.
You will be assessed on:
- Content
-
Structure
-
Writing style
-
Grammar/spelling
-
Referencing (plus a minimum of 5 journal citations)
- Prepare a business plan.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
