B002248 - FARM ECONOMICS AND PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC APPRAISAL

Italian

The course aims at introducing students to economic analysis of farming activities and to principles of economic appraisal. Lectures and classroom activities supply to students the fundamental knowledge on the economics of agricultural production, and concepts and operative tools for economic analysis of farming activities as well as an essential knowledge of rural appraisal.

Panattoni A. , Campus F. (1980), Economia dell'azienda agraria, Libreria Universitaria.
De Benedictis M., Cosentino V. (1979), Economia dell'azienda agraria, Il Mulino.
Michieli I. e Michieli M. (2003), Trattato di Estimo, Ed. Edagricole.

Knowledge achieved(at the end of the course): economics of agricultural production unit, composition of production cost, performance indicators, economic principles in farm management and appraisal, basics of actuarial mathematics.

Competence achieved (at the end of the course): survey of production factors of the agricultural holding, farm budget design and implementation, economic appraisal of land capital.

Skills achieved (at the end of the course): identifying farm management problems, designing the survey of essential information for management decisions, implementing analytical tools for management decisions.

Courses required: Agricultural Economics

Courses recommended: Mathematics

Credits: 9
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 225 (=9x25)
Hours reserved to private study and other individual formative activities: 153
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 0
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 24
Seminars (hours): 0
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 1

Frequency of lectures, practice and lab: Reccommended

Office hours:

Written exam on actuarial mathematics.
Written exam on farm economics and rural appraisal

Firms and holdings in agriculture, production factors (economic technical characteristics and costs classification (fixed costs, variable, direct, indirect, implicit, explicit); statements of profit and Net Income; concept of effectiveness and levels of business efficiency. Economic analysis of income distribution at the holding level.
Financial mathematics: interest, capital and interest rate, alternative regimes of capitalization, discounting and accruing of financial values, accumulation of periodical values (infra annual, annual, multiannual), depreciation and amortization, determination residual debt.
General concepts of financial analysis (general, phase and sector) and cost sharing, full cost of production: single-crop farm, multifunctional farming system. Estimating Farm Machinery Costs and judgment of convenience.
Phases of the economic appraisal. Economic criteria and procedures in the evaluation. Appraisal of land capital, rural buildings, permanent crops, incomplete crops.