Current Use of Agribusiness Simulation Games: Survey Results of University Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics Programs

Abstract

"No single, user-friendly, effective agribusiness simulation is in widespread use in the United States today. Four decades ago, in the 1960s, computerized business simulation games were first used in teaching a university agribusiness management class. Dahlgran (1987) reported that ""Babb and Eisgruber wrote and used simulators for a grain elevator, a farm supply center, a farm marketing center and a supermarket” in the early 1960's. Updated versions of those games are still in use today. This paper reports some of the basic data from a 1999-2000 survey of university agribusiness management and agricultural economics programs in the United States. This is the first known survey of those programs concerning the use of business simulations. The scope of this project was limited and focused on how extensively business simulations were used in training and teaching business skills in agricultural economics and agribusiness programs at the undergraduate and graduate level in universities in the United States. A more specific objective for this project was to identify the business simulations being used in agriculture economics and agribusiness BS, MS and/or Ph.D. programs at four-year universities. It has been left to future research to evaluate in more detail the use and efficacy of business simulations in agricultural economics and agribusiness courses. "