Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business

What Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business does

Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business is a research and executive education unit housed within Purdue University's Department of Agricultural Economics in West Lafayette, Indiana. Founded in 1986 and operating with approximately 17 employees, the center delivers executive education workshops, custom corporate training, and graduate degree programs — including the dual MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management (developed with the Indiana University Kelley School of Business) and the MS in Agricultural Economics — to working professionals and organizations across the food and agriculture value chain. Programs cover sales, management, finance, strategic decision-making, and precision selling, with the MS-MBA delivered 85% online over 27 months and including international study components.

The center's core research asset is the Large Commercial Producer (LCP) Survey, conducted since 1993 and transitioned to a four-year cycle in 2012, which captures attitudes, buying behavior, and decision-making of large U.S. commercial producers — the 2025 wave covered 1,151 respondents. Research findings are commercialized through the LCP Results Package and disseminated via the Purdue Agribusiness Review publication, the LCP Signals blog series, and the bi-annual National Conference for Food and Agribusiness. The center also operates a consortium model in which agribusiness organizations fund the LCP Survey in exchange for early access to findings.

Revenue is generated through tuition for the MS-MBA and MS degree programs, fees from open-enrollment workshops and custom corporate training engagements, consortium membership fees from agribusiness funders, and sales of LCP Survey research deliverables. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The center's geographic footprint is primarily U.S.-focused, though the MS-MBA's online delivery model and international study components support a global reach for the degree program. The center operates as part of Purdue University and is not independently owned or traded.

Name

Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Legal name

Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Website

https://agribusiness.purdue.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business delivers executive education, custom corporate training, and graduate degree programs (MS-MBA, MS) for food and agribusiness professionals, anchored by the 30-plus-year Large Commercial Producer Survey tracking producer attitudes and buying behavior.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Executive Education and Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), Technical and Trade Schools (6115), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Universities with Strong Industry Partnerships (EDAHAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marketing, Sales & Brand Management Schools (EDAHAHAE), Applied Research & Innovation Universities (EDAHAEAE)

Keywords

• Executive education
• Agribusiness training
• Graduate degree programs
• Agricultural research
• Corporate leadership development

Headquarters

HQ city

West Lafayette

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Executive Education Programs: Revenue generated from open-enrollment workshops and professional development programs in areas such as sales, management, finance, strategic decision-making, and precision selling. Programs include B2B Relational Selling, Precision Selling, Seed Management Academy, and Strategic Decision Making.
2. Custom Corporate Training: Tailored training programs designed and delivered for specific company needs, featuring collaborative team learning experiences.
3. Graduate Degree Programs: MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management (dual degree with Purdue and Indiana University Kelley School of Business, 27 months, 85% online) and MS Degree programs generate tuition revenue from working professionals.
4. LCP Survey Research: 2025 LCP Results Package sold as a commercial product including full presentation slide deck, results summary PDF, and one-time follow-up opportunity. Consortium membership fees from agribusiness organizations that fund the ongoing research project.
5. Purdue Agribusiness Review: Industry publication containing research articles from Purdue faculty and collaborators covering topics in strategy, supply chain, risk management, and food system analysis.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business delivers applied business education and research for the food and agribusiness industry. Its core offerings include executive education workshops (sales, management, finance, strategic decision-making), custom corporate training programs, and graduate degrees (a dual MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management with Indiana University Kelley School of Business and an MS in Agricultural Economics). The center also produces industry research, most notably the Large Commercial Producer (LCP) Survey, and publishes the Purdue Agribusiness Review.

Product overview

Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business offers a portfolio of educational programs and research services for the food and agribusiness industry. The core offerings include two degree programs (the dual MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management and the MS in Agricultural Economics), executive education workshops (B2B Relational Selling, Precision Selling, Seed Management Academy, Strategic Decision Making), and custom corporate training programs. Research capabilities center on the Large Commercial Producer (LCP) Survey, the largest ongoing research project tracking producer attitudes and buying behaviors, supplemented by the Purdue Agribusiness Review publication and the bi-annual National Conference for Food and Agribusiness. The LCP Signals blog series translates survey findings into actionable insights for industry professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Large Commercial Producer Survey (LCP Survey): The largest, longest-standing research project tracking attitudes and business behavior of large-scale U.S. producers since 1993.
• MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management
• Purdue Agribusiness Review

Products and services

• MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management A dual-degree program offering an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University Kelley School of Business. The program is 85% online, spans 27 months, and is designed for working professionals in the food and agribusiness industry.
• MS Degree in Agricultural Economics

Quantifiable outcome

• Survey respondents report significant shifts in information gathering and supplier evaluation behaviors, with only 13.6% of farmers ranking dealer/retailer sources as their top source of new ideas versus 25.2% retailer perception

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Indiana University Kelley School of BusinesscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management is a dual-degree program developed in partnership between Purdue University and the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Students earn an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business. The partnership combines Purdue's agricultural economics expertise with Indiana University's business school credentials.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Wharton Executive Education (University of Pennsylvania): Wharton offers industry-agnostic executive education in leadership, sales, and strategy that competes for the same corporate L&D budget targeting senior agribusiness leaders, but at a much broader scale and brand premium.
• Indiana University Kelley School of Business Executive Education: Kelley is the degree-issuing partner for the MS-MBA program and runs a broader executive education portfolio in sales, leadership, and strategy, making it both a partner and a broader incumbent in the executive education space the Purdue center operates in.

Direct peers

• Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Economics: Texas A&M houses one of the largest agricultural economics programs in the U.S. and operates executive-style programs for agribusiness professionals, making it a direct competitor for the same producer and agribusiness training market as the Purdue center.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics: UIUC's ACE department is a direct peer in agribusiness education and research; Brenna Ellison joined Purdue from UIUC, illustrating the cross-institutional flow of faculty in this small competitive set of programs.
• University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI): FAPRI is a peer applied agribusiness research unit embedded in a land-grant university that produces recurring policy and producer-economic analysis, comparable in structure and applied-focus to the Purdue center's LCP Survey-driven research.
• Michigan State University Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics: Michigan State runs parallel programs in agribusiness management, executive training, and applied research for the Great Lakes agricultural economy, mirroring the Purdue center's applied-research-and-education model.
• Iowa State University Department of Economics / College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Iowa State is a peer land-grant university with a similarly strong agricultural economics department, executive education offerings, and applied research serving large corn/soy producers, closely comparable in mission and audience to the Purdue center.
• Cornell University Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management: Cornell's Dyson School applies an applied-economics and management model to food and agribusiness, with executive-style programming that directly competes for the same agribusiness professional audience.
• The Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics: Ohio State's ag economics department offers graduate and extension programming targeting agribusiness professionals in the Midwest, comparable in scope and audience to the Purdue center.

Emerging players

• Purdue DIAL Ventures / DIAL Lab: DIAL is a sibling Purdue digital-innovation unit led by Allan Gray, overlapping the center's research and corporate-programming clients while pushing into agtech and venture-style advisory work that increasingly intersects with the center's offerings.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PurdueAgBiz
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/foodandagbusiness/feed
• Facebookfacebook.com/purdueagribusiness
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/purdue-agribusiness

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business