NIACC Ag Dept: E-Agribusiness

North Iowa Area Community College is pleased to introduce an E-Agribusiness Program. The program, which provides training for existing and future jobs created in the agricultural field of e-commerce, involves a combination of agriculture, e-commerce, entrepreneurial and general education coursework.

"Discussions with appropriate individuals, employers and advisory committee members have not only reinforced our decision to offer this program, but strongly encouraged its rapid development." Larry Eichmeier, Ag Technology Division Chair

Transferability: Transfer agreements are currently under discussion with several four-year schools, including Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, and Northwest Missouri State University.

Options: NIACC also offers agriculture programs in Operations & Management, Sales & Service, and Marketing & Finance. Individuals who already have an agriculture degree should be able to complete the E-Agribusiness Program in one additional year.

More Information: Contact Larry Eichmeier at 1-888-GO NIACC, ext. 4225 or the NIACC Admissions Office at 1-888-GO NIACC, ext. 4245.

Internet access and electronic commerce are revolutionizing the landscape of agribusiness and production agriculture. Trade involving the Internet - electronic commerce (e-commerce) has boomed in recent years, rapidly assuming a significant position in American economics. In addition, the technology adopted by farmers and agricultural businesses requires a secure and accurate medium in which to exchange immense amounts of information. By most accounts, the farming community has more readily embraced the Internet than the general population. Internet penetration on the farm and in agri-business is also greater than in other small and medium-sized businesses, since farmers have long used the web to check the weather, commodity prices, and other pertinent industry information.

Up to two-thirds of producers are estimated to have Internet access and are using it to gather information used in purchasing and selling decisions. Additionally, new marketing tools are constantly being developed, which are being utilized by more and more producers and businesses. Agriculture-related web sites and e-commerce businesses are in fierce competition for market share of the farm economy (1.9 million farmers in a $285 Billion U.S. industry).

The volume of agribusiness done over the Internet is forecasted to explode over the next few years. For a comprehensive summary of e-commerce trends point your browser to NIACC’s e-commerce trends site.

As e-commerce expands, enormous opportunities will be created in the business sector of agriculture. The areas most likely impacted by e-commerce are: input procurement, establishment of supply chains, commodity marketing, communication, and information archiving. The potential value of the Internet in agriculture and the resulting e-commerce is limited only by the ingenuity of people.

Earn an Associate of Applied Science Degree for immediate employment in local, regional, and national markets.

Provide a foundation of learning through courses suitable for articulation to a 4-year university or college to earn a baccalaureate degree.

Enhance economic and entrepreneurial development, and business competitiveness for local, regional, and statewide agricultural businesses.

The single most important skill is a good knowledge base in the relevant areas of information technology, electronic commerce, web design, entrepreneurship, and agriculture experience.

The second most desirable skill is hands-on experience. Providing great educational training opportunities.

More than one-third of the skills identified by managers as important are non-technical skills such as good communication, problem-solving, and analytical skills, along with flexibility, and the ability to learn quickly The largest skill gaps are for enterprise systems integration and web development positions.These positions have high complexity and a scarcity of qualified applicants.

E-Commerce Salaries

While specific salaries in e-agribusiness are difficult to find, voluminous studies and surveys demonstrate that e-commerce personnel, in general, command above average salaries. See NIACC’s site below for a summary of those findings: Salary Report

In the first half of 2000, the Net became firmly entrenched in the U.S. economy accounting for one-fifth of total revenues, according to a new study. The third report (January 2001) on measuring the impact of the Internet Economy from the University of Texas continues to astonish economists and forecasters. The Internet Economy continues to grow beyond expectations.

The Internet Economy force has become a more integral part of the US economy than ever before, creating jobs and increasing productivity in companies across the economy. The impact goes far beyond dot coms, as Internet Economy forces are transforming traditional companies and jobs.

Seven of every 10 of these jobs are traditional, rather than high-tech, jobs, according to a new study by the University of Texas Center for Research in Electronic Commerce. Of the Internet-related jobs, only 28 percent are in Information Technology, which ranks below sales and marketing (33 percent) as the job function generating the most Internet-related employment. Dot com companies are a very small part (about 9.6 percent) of the overall Internet Economy.

The research is contained in the fourth report measuring the Internet Economy commissioned by Cisco Systems and covers the first half of 2000.

It shows the Internet is transforming the economy and the way people work, to an extent few people would have imagined just a few years ago.

According to the study, the Internet Economy now directly supports more than 3.088 million workers, including an additional 600,000 in the first half of 2000. This is about 60,000 more than the number employed in insurance industry and double the real estate industry. These jobs were created both by the explosion of the Internet and by companies shifting workers to take advantage of the benefits created by embracing the Internet.

Employment in Internet Economy companies is growing much faster than employment in the overall economy. Total employment at Internet Economy companies grew 10 percent between the first quarter of 1999 and the first quarter of 2000. Internet-related jobs at Internet Economy companies grew 29 percent during the same period. Both of these figures far exceed the growth of non-Internet related jobs in these same Internet Economy companies, which grew 6.9 percent during the same period. The Internet Economy generated an estimated $830 billion in revenues in 2000, a 58 percent increase over 1999. The $830 billion in revenues is a 156 percent increase from 1998, when the Internet accounted for $323 billion in revenues.

Internet economy revenue is growing twice as fast as Internet Economy employment. In 2000, for example, second quarter revenue grew 58.8 percent over the second quarter of 1999. Meanwhile second quarter employment grew 22.6 percent over 1999.

Internet-related revenue is a growing piece of corporate revenue as a whole. For Internet Economy companies, Internet revenue is one-quarter the size of non-Internet revenue – but growing three times as fast as corporate revenue as a whole. Revenue grew by $23 billion between the first quarter of 1999 and first quarter of 2000. Internet-related revenue grew $68 billion during the same period.

Internet Economy employees are increasingly productive employees. Revenue per employee increased an estimated 11.5 percent in the first half of 2000 a key indication of the productivity gains generated by the Internet.

In the first half of 2000, Internet Economy companies generated $1 of every $5 in revenue from the Internet. Even as the overall economy experiences fluctuations, Internet Economy forces continue to reshape the economy in unprecedented ways, producing savings for businesses and consumers alike. And reports of strong online holiday spending levels in 2000 (a study by Goldman Sachs and PC Data, for example, said total Internet holiday spending rose to $8.7 billion from $4.2 billion in 1999) provide yet another sign of the way customers and retailers now routinely use the Internet.

The Internet is increasingly becoming part of the basic business model for many companies, laying the groundwork for even more impressive growth during strong economic conditions. The Internet is rapidly becoming an integral part of the traditional economy – like telephones, elevators and personal computers over the years – leading to the day when there will be no separate measure of the Internet Economy.

The entire report, Measuring the Internet Economy, is available in PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format.