Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 1-2 x 1 hour lecture per week (33 hours) - across semester 1 & 2 |
| Practical | 5 x 3 hour practical sessions/computer suite (15 hours) - semester 1 |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Report. | 50% |
| Semester Exam | 1.5 Hours Land and economics. | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module. | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 1.5 Hours Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module. | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Identify the factors that influence land use patterns;
2. Describe the legal status of land and the controls placed on land use;
3. Describe and apply basic principles of economics to rural issues and the framework of rural policy in the United Kingdom and Western Europe;
4. Explain linkages between the overall economy and prospects for agriculture and other rural industries;
5. Identify the components of an accounting environment;
6. Construct detailed business budget that assimilates macro and microeconomic factors with the physical and financial attributes of a farming system.
Brief description
This module is designed to provide students with an understanding of the primary resources required to operate a rural business and to provide an understanding of the business and economic environment in which those resources operate. Students will identify current land use patterns in the UK and examine physical, legal, historic and economic factors that influence land use. This module will also consider the economic principles that underlie government intervention in agricultural, rural and regional policy. The development of an understanding of the fundamental economic relationships will enable opportunities and problems for rural areas to be discussed and appropriate policy responses to be identified. This module will also provide students with business management skills. It is essential that prospective managers of small businesses are able to construct a series of financial statements based on historical data that will give a measure of financial performance.
Content
The use of primary and secondary financial statements to measure business and enterprise success;
Constructing a set of financial statements;
The requirements when budgeting for businesses and identifying the different techniques and resources available for budgeting;
Nature and methods of economics and its application to agriculture and other rural sectors;
The demand for food and characteristics of consumer behaviour, including price and income elasticity of demand for food;
Introduction to the major macroeconomic variables; economic growth, employment, inflation, balance of payments and linkages between the macro economy and the rural industries;
International agricultural trade; Economics of the CAP and its reform;
Land use patterns in the UK and Europe;
Forms of land occupation and transfer;
Land use controls.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Preparation of farm budgets Analysis of commodity markets |
| Communication | Written communication and oral questioning skills will be developed on farm visit. Feedback will be provided. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The Business Budgeting and Enterprise Economics assignment requires the selection and analysis of appropriate information, within a specified timescale, to allow for the development of a budget. The volume of information encountered will not see the assignment submitted within set deadlines if self management is not practised. |
| Information Technology | Case study submission is word processed. Extensive use of spreadsheets for accounts/budget construction and commodity analysis Extensive data analysis using spreadsheets |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Case study is based on a real life scenario which a student could be expected to encounter |
| Problem solving | Business budgeting and enterprise economics assignment allows students to develop own ideas on the future direction of case study farm. This will be based on own collection of data and own analysis. |
| Research skills | |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will learn the principles of the accounting environment. |
| Team work |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4