Monthly Archives: May 2021

Agriculture is an alternative investment class which is currently gaining traction on account of traditionally strong performance and positive returns to investors, especially in comparison with some other traditional assets. Nevertheless, it is important to think about the impact of agricultural investments in developing countries especially and to consider how to use those investments so as to contribute to sustainable development. Recently, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), an independent non-profit research institute, published an article exploring the purchase of land by agricultural investment funds in developing countries and the actions that might be taken to promote investments that will genuinely support local communities.

The IIED article, entitled “Farms and Funds: investment funds in the global land rush” (published in the IIED Global Land Rush January 2012 news brief), notes the increase in investment funds land and agribusiness purchases in developing countries. Investors (financial players as well as individuals) are expecting high long-term returns due to a range of factors, such as increasing demand for food and rising land prices.

The article points out that even though in many African countries the agricultural sector has historically suffered from a lack of sufficient investment, it doesn’t follow that the investments being made now are ethical per se. The importance is stressed of considering how agricultural investments in developing countries can both benefit the investors and contribute to the sustainable development of the region where they are being implemented.

Among the measures recommended in the IIED article are the promotion of “good” investments and the discouragement of harmful ones by for example introducing disclosure and transparency requirements in the investors’ home countries as well as increasing government and investor accountability. As for the host countries, the article recommends the development of investment models which include local farmers. This is particularly important since in developing countries weak government structures can mean that the rights of local communities are often not sufficiently safeguarded by appropriate institutional measures.

In any event, agricultural investments will benefit local communities only so long as they are used for promoting sustainable agricultural practices. In relation to agriculture, sustainability means that natural resources such as soil or water need to be used at a slower pace than they are replenished, meaning that crop harvesting needs to be synched with necessary replenishment practices. And sustainable agriculture is beneficial for investors as well since it increases land productivity and crop resilience, meaning better returns in the long run.

Another fact not to be overlooked by governments and private investors is that the agricultural sector currently accounts for approximately 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The corollary is that investment in unsustainable agricultural practices can have serious environmental consequences. In this connection, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has introduced the concept of “climate-smart” agriculture, defined as agriculture that “sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes greenhouse gases (mitigation) while enhancing the achievement of national food security and development goals”. In addition, the FAO also suggests an “energy-smart” farming model: making the agricultural sector less dependent on fossil fuels and to be achieved through investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, or geothermal power which can be used for farming operations.

In December 2011, the FAO published its paper “Identifying opportunities for climate-smart agriculture investments in Africa”, which highlights the need of the agricultural sector in Africa for substantial public and private sector investments. The paper asserts that, with both agricultural and climate change investments being largely privately financed, investors have both the financial opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to sustainable development in the developing world. That increasing private sector awareness in sustainability is key is also stressed in the IIED article, which asserts that many investors do not actually know much about issues such as sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Agriculture industry contributes hugely to the Indian economy. The practice of agriculture is highly devotional to promoting subsistence farming methods and adequate implementation. Throwing light on the present status of the agricultural sector reveals its undoubtedly incredible performance in Indian arena of economic growth. With tremendous dependency on the agricultural sector, industry efforts are directed towards promoting their business pertaining to stiff market competition.

Need For Agriculture Business Promotion

Modern agriculture stretches beyond mere traditional production of human food products and feed for animals. Fertilizers, leather, fibers, timber, nursery plants, etc all constitute a major part of the agriculture sector today. Stiff competition in the Indian agriculture market is primarily based on production of refined quality product in the long run. Industries are continuously flowing into the Indian market thus toughening competition at every single moment. The bigger picture entails upon the need for online business listing which helps promote the stance of best agriculture industry. The bottom line is agriculture business demands high promotion in order to resist market force and beat competition at the edge.

Service Visibility Is A Must-Factor

Online presence isn’t just the sole supporting factor in sustaining success in Indian market. Making your presence felt is a do-factor. Often agricultural companies dealing into production and distribution of manual and animal herbs prefer assured visibility of their services. Listing site details on a promotional website is one must. However, it is necessary that the organizations choose substantial hosting sites for their business promotion so that there are lesser chances of litigations and unethical practices. Agricultural products add widely to the daily consumption list of Indian majority population. If you are an agricultural business holder, then reaching out to common people is perhaps a do on the list. A careful enlisting of business on a reputed website leads to your service visibility to a wider crowd.

Productive Use Of Your Resources

Agricultural sector constitutes 80% of the Indian economy. Hereby, productive use of resources from agricultural base can widely add to the growth of economy. If the resources from agricultural sector are used productively, then the overall effect will be accelerating. The agriculture market lends feed to labor in the modern sector.

Promoting business through an organization which encourages unethical and unfair practices can be hazardous. Agriculture businesses which constitute a major part of the Indian economy must enroll into promoting their services. However, a website which showcases services of diverse companies categorized into different groups offers authentic promotion. It is one such managerial base where the agriculture companies must highlight the strength of their services to ensure better visibility among the users. Remember, agricultural products are major to the survival of ‘common people.’ Having said that, companies face stiff competition in enhancing their base popularity and reaching out to the public. So, such industries must add to the eatery lists of the people by promoting their business online. Provide quality service to the target audience and assure you will feed pretty good number of people on your bridging products.

If you are into agriculture and have farm land as well as livestock then there is a high probability that at some point in time you might need an agricultural loan. There are several different types of agricultural loans available including specific loans for farm land, live stock, and any other agriculture related requirement. But the question is how to obtain agricultural loans?

If you require agricultural loans then there are certain aspects to consider before you can obtain the loan. The different aspects include:

Business Plan: As an existing farmer or a new farmer applying for agricultural loans, the first step is to prepare a detailed business plan that will throw light on the cash flow forecasts for the near future. The projection of the cash flow in your business plan will help your lender to understand how much loan you require and how much you are capable of paying back. You can pick up a copy of Business Plans for Agricultural Producers from the Texas Cooperative Extension Service for $1.25 and read through it to understand how to make a well-projected and detailed business plan for the loans.

Compare terms: There are several financial institutions that offer agricultural loans and each institution has its own rates and minimum loan amount. Before you apply for agricultural loans it is always a good idea to compare the various aspects of the loan like lending terms, minimum amount, scheduled payment period, marginal payment options and much more. You can compare the above information offered by banks, financial institutions, and Farm Credit Associations over the internet.

State Agricultural Finance programs: Most US states offer several state agricultural finance programs while some of the states offer at least one loan program. State agricultural finance or loan programs include everything from farmer loans to short-term farm land loans, disaster recovery loans, livestock loans, agri-business loans, equipment loans, seasonal loans, and much more. One of the popular state agricultural finance programs is the Aggie Bond Beginning Farmer Loan Program. This program is currently available in 17 states and helps new farmers to obtain loans at reduced rates for livestock, buying land, etc. You can find details on agricultural loans and state agricultural finance programs at the National Council of State Agricultural Finance Programs.

Commercial lenders: You can check the various offerings by commercial lenders like banks and financial institutions as well. There are several commercial lenders who specialize in different types of agricultural loans. There are approximately 2,500 farm banks all across US that offer agricultural loans at good interest rates. You can also check out with banks because they offer more farm loans than any Farm Credit System in the US.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) or Federal Government: Several types of agricultural loans are offered by USDA or the Federal government. You can pay them a visit if you are unable to get commercial credit or if you are unable to get the loan amount that you require for a specific agricultural requirement. There are several loan and farm land finance programs offered by the USDA Farm Service Agency.

Agriculture is important for numerous reasons, the most central of which is that we all need to eat. Agriculture allows us to provide for those needs. Agriculture is imperative because it provides food to eat for every human being. If no one worked in the agriculture meadow, humans would not be gifted to eat daily.

Agriculture science is related to the various sciences as botany, dairy science, social science, economics, pathology, engineering, food science, soil science & chemistry. This are also called as the branches of agriculture.

Why is agriculture illustrious? The view of ‘food security’ is basically notable, and for that cause, agriculture is significant. The task of feeding its people has been possibly the first precedence of its rulers throughout olden times. As such, agriculture is considered to be the very origin of political and social constancy of a nation since times immemorial. Agriculture has played a key role in the development of human civilization. Awaiting the Industrial rebellion, the huge bulk of the human population labored in agriculture. Progress of agricultural techniques has progressively increased agricultural productivity. Marvelous and fairly great farms employ workers to undertake the range of jobs relating to cultivation of crops and care of farm animals. In the majority of the countries of the world, agriculture apart remains the major sector accountable for the employing and feeding a huge percentage of the population.

Agriculture refers to the production of foodstuff and fiber and additional goods through farming and forestry. The major agricultural products can be generally grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, and prohibited drugs. Exact foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include yarn, wool, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Drugs include tobacco, alcohol, and cocaine; additional useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Development of methods of agricultural production has increased agricultural productivity. Noteworthy changes in agricultural practices have been made of the last century with new technologies and worldwide market development. Agriculture has played a key function in the development of human being civilization. In conclusion, agriculture is important to world economy because it has immense contributions to international deal since mainly of the items that is imported and exported by countries are agricultural products. To maintain the economy of a scrupulous nation, political leaders should focus on implementing laws and policies that will make stronger the agricultural division because it has a collision on the gross domestic product.

Agricultural Productivity and Commodity Prices

This article covering the effect of commodity prices on agriculture investments has been produced for the purpose of providing quality reference material for the prospective Investor considering the sector, specifically for the Investor wishing to better understand to relationship and influence of commodity prices and agricultural productivity in agriculture investments.

Investors are attracted to the agriculture sector for a number of reasons; not least the undeniable fundamental trends of growing demand and contracting supply likely to drive higher asset prices and revenues in the future. Farm revenues at the very basic level are a combination of agricultural yield multiplied by commodity prices, so to better understand the performance of this asset class, we should look at commodity prices and productivity in a historical context in an effort to ascertain whether higher prices are here to stay, or part of a longer term price cycle.

At present, humankind utilises approximately 50 per cent of accessible, productive land for agriculture. Put another way, half of the Earth’s surface that is not desert, water, ice or some other such unusable space such as urbanised areas is used to grow crops.

With current emphasis firmly upon increasing productivity to meet current and future demand for food, feed and fuel from an expanding, wealthier global population, the fact that we only use half of the usable global stock of farmland indicates that we should be able to simply bring more land under agricultural cultivation through the application of well-placed infrastructure and technology investments. Unfortunately, the situation as always, is not quite as simplistic as that. In fact, the land we do not currently use for agriculture remains so because it accommodates vital natural ecosystems, is located in areas of conflict, or is simply not capable of producing commercially viable yields at current commodity prices i.e. the revenue created from the land does not cover the cost of the farming operations due to poor yields.

Before the introduction of what can be perceived as modern agricultural practices, the global population ebbed and flowed at around 4 million people, rising when access to food was abundant, and falling in times when food was hard to come by. These people existed as hunter-gatherers collecting the food they consumed for survival on a daily basis from nature, and therefore the size of the human race was intrinsically limited to a sustainable level. To put this into context, up until the introduction of modern agriculture, the global population was roughly half the present day population of London.

Then, some 10,000 years ago, modern agriculture was born, presenting us with the ability to cultivate plants and rear livestock in a concentrated fashion, enabling us to feed ourselves regardless of the vagaries of nature.

As our population continues to expand past the current level of 7 billion and towards the commonly accepted total carrying capacity of planet Earth of 13 billion, with most think tanks believing the global population will peak at around 9 billion people between 2030 and 2050, we must continue to increase productivity not only to feed ourselves, but also more recently for biofuels as oil supplies diminish and also for livestock feed to sate the desire for meat from an increasingly wealthy, urbanised population in Asia.

Initially, increases in productivity to meet growing demand have come from simply cultivating more land. But as the global shortage of suitable land continues to diminish, we have relied much more heavily on the increasing use of fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides and water to increase yield, certainly within the last 50 years.

Between 1961 and 1991, global cereal production doubled, mostly due to the introduction of nitrogen based fertilisers, commonly referred to as the Green Revolution, whereas bringing more land under cultivation played a relatively minor role. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, (FAO), this sharp 30 year spike in agricultural productivity can be broken down to reveal that 78% of the increase was due to a rise in productivity per unit of land, and 7% can be attributed to greater cropping intensity, with only 15% being a result of the development of previously unused land into farmland.

The Recent Commodity Boom

Commodities have been quite the focus in recent times, with prices rising consistently since 2000, finally peaking at record levels in 2008. Many argue that this is simply part of a long-term cycle in agricultural commodity prices, noting that the same effect was felt during the oil crisis of the 1970’s. During that time, the price of oil rose by 200%, which in-turn drove food prices as the price of oil is a significant factor in the overall cost of agricultural inputs such as fuel and fertilisers.

In the long-term though, when adjusted for inflation food prices have been in decline since the 1950’s. In fact, between 1950 and 2000, food prices in real terms fell by about 50 per cent at the same time the global population increased from 2.5 billion to 6.1 billion.

Whilst on the face of it this does seem to go against the basic economics of supply and demand, when further investigation is made things start to make more sense. Whilst it is true that demand has literally exploded – and is now being compounded through the use of ‘food land’ for the production of non-food crops for biofuels – at the same time, due to the technologies introduced by the Green Revolution, agricultural productivity has tripled, increasing at a faster pace and allowing supply to outpace demand.

This happy situation continued until around the mid 1980’s, where grain production per capita peaked at around 380 kg per person, having risen from around 280 kg per person in the early 1960’s. It is also worth noting that the majority of increased production was ultimately used for livestock feed to sate the growing demand for meat from an increasingly wealthy population. Before that the same thing happened during the great depression of the 1930’s.

The question remains for investors interested in agriculture investments, farmers and the general population, were the recent spikes in agricultural commodity prices part of a long-term pricing cycle, or was this in fact the beginning of a new type of cycle? Well, there are a number of factors to consider; firstly, the recent prices rises were by far the most extreme of recent times. Lasting over a period of 5 years, this happened to be the longest and harshest upward trend in agricultural commodity prices on record, even more so than the price spikes witnessed during the First and Second World Wars.

Also of interest is the fact that the price rises experienced in the 12 months leading up to the 2008 peaks were entirely unprecedented in their scale alone. For example, the price of the three main grain commodities rose by such ridiculously high levels that they had never before been witnessed. The prices of maize rose by 75%, wheat by 121%, and rice by 215%, all in the 12 months prior their peak in 2008.

The reality is that during the 1970’s correction in prices was achieved through increasing yield through the introduction of new technologies (the Green Revolution), allowing productivity to triple, supplies to increase and prices to ease. Again, in the 1930’s, there was ample unused land to develop, leading to the cultivation of 10’s of millions of fresh farmland, again increasing supply and easing prices. In current circumstances yield increases are smaller than population increases for the first time since the 1970’s i.e. increasing productivity that way is no longer viable, and at the same time there is very little unused land left to work with.

This perhaps indicates that higher food prices are here to stay, at least until new technologies are developed to increase productivity. This leap in technological advancement requires investment capital which in turn requires higher farm gate revenues (commodity prices) to fund, therefore it is likely that food prices will remain higher now in order to fund the change in technology required to increase production capacity and yield. The issue then becomes more one of sustainability, rather than pricing, with more concern perhaps due to precisely how we feed ourselves, and the 1 billion people already undernourished on this planet.

So, back to the most recent commodity price explosion; is the fact that prices have risen so dramatically in the most recent spike alone enough to suggest that this is in fact the beginning of a new trend or cycle in agriculture, or is it simply part of an on-going cycle that sees real assets undergo severe re-pricing every 40 or so years?

Many market pundits have pointed out that the level of pure speculation from financial traders was at least in part responsible for the 2008 peak. Indeed it is true that trading volumes increased in the run up to 2008, as interest in Maize more than doubling between early 2005 and February 2008. Looking more closely at trading volumes also tells us that whilst volume increased on the whole by 85%, non-commercial traders (speculators) doubled their share of positive or ‘long’ positions in opening interest. Trading volumes for wheat also increased by well over 100%, as did positive speculator bets.

So it is true that commercial trading of agricultural commodities boomed in the run up to 2008, it is essential to note however that this did not simply occur by chance, the reason more people were trading more commodities, can be attributed to the fact that the fundamentals driving commodity prices displayed a screaming buy signal.

By far the most reliable indicator of global demand and supply in agricultural commodities are records of global grain stores. These figures are the biggest driving force in short term agricultural commodity prices. When grain stores fall then demand outweighs supply, and grain stores rise, the opposite is true. When any commodity is in high demand and short supply, the resulting bidding war drives prices higher, especially when it is an essential commodity one cannot do without such as food.

In 2008, global grain stores bottomed hitting historic lows, and when commodity prices were at their highest, average global grain stocks fell to equate to just 18.7% of annual consumption, equivalent to only 68 days’ worth of global supply, well below the long-term average. In other words, if global production were to be significantly interrupted for two months, for example in the case of a severe drought or conflict, the whole world risked running out of food completely.

Such low global stock alerted speculators to the fact that the supply/ demand relationship had tightened, however many seemed to miss the fact that agriculture is inherently cyclical, and high prices lead to investment in production in an effort to produce more whilst prices remain high which in turn leads to an increase in production and stocks and prices falling off as the supply / demand relationship widens again and those making bets on continued high prices suffered extreme losses as an influx of product hit the market, causing prices to fall rapidly. Welcome to commodity price cycles people!

The agriculture business delivers all types of foods such as meat and milk to everyone in society. Students can learn about crop and livestock farming by studying the industry through online agriculture schools and colleges. Online training can be pursued at several degree levels allowing students to enter their desired career.

The industry has seen a significant growth in technology use in recent years, which makes completing an education extremely beneficial if not imperative for interested students. Online training incorporates many fields to prepare students for professional work. Biology and chemistry are focused on to prepare students to understand plant promotion and livestock manufacturing. Students are also taught how to integrate new concepts with existing ones to better maintain the business. Many career opportunities are available to students that earn a degree. Some possible career options include:

• Agricultural Technician
• Ranch Manager
• Greenhouse Manager
• Agricultural Professor

Students can enter these careers and more after completing the correct degree program. Online education options for career training in agriculture include an associate’s, bachelor’s, or master’s degree program.

Students that complete an associate’s degree program will gain a foundation in agriculture. Most programs prepare students to become technicians in the field by teaching them how to correctly operate the equipment and machines used for farming. The business of agriculture and understanding soil composition is also highly focused on. Common courses taken at this level of education could include:

• Agriculture Chemicals
• Crop Science

Students can expect to understand the hazards of the business and how to promote safety on the job. Livestock and heavy machinery are key areas that are studied in a safety course. Other areas explored may include pesticides, the nature of soils, and ecosystems.

Bachelor’s degree programs give students the most career opportunities upon completion. Multiple concentration areas can be entered that focus on areas such as agricultural business management or industry marketing. Programs typically emphasize specific parts of the field like food production, soil science, and plant cultivation. Common coursework that can be found in all concentration areas may include:

• Microeconomics for Agriculture
• Livestock Biometrics
• Agriculture Research

Courses help students understand the chemical and biological make up of soil, plant growth, and crop performance. This wide knowledge base allows students to pursue careers in management, technology, and business.

Students that continue education by completing a master’s degree program have the opportunity to step into careers where they conduct research or teach others about agriculture. Students explore many areas, which include courses in biological engineering, organic agriculture, and agribusiness. Other online course topics that may be examined include:

• Horticulture
• Agriculture Technology

Students are able to step into careers in areas that include government, science, management, and engineering. Soil composition specialists and agricultural policymakers are some career possibilities for students that complete training at the master’s degree level.

Online education allows students to work from home and enter their desired career. Enrolling in an accredited online college that offers agriculture is the first step to entering a satisfying career. Full accreditation is awarded by agencies like the Distance Education and Training Council (http://www.detc.org/) to programs that offer a quality education.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.

Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

Civilization began with agriculture, our nomadic ancestors settled once they began to grow their own food. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through growing of plants, animals and other life forms on land. As of 2006, 45 percent of the world’s population is employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped since the beginning of industrialization. Even though agriculture employs one-third of the world’s population, agricultural produce accounts for less than 5 percent of the gross world product.

Agriculture is important for not only providing food but also for providing raw materials for other industries like textile, sugar, jute, vegetable oil and tobacco. Besides being an occupation for people, agriculture is also a way of living. Most of the world’s customs and culture revolve around agriculture. A number of festivals and holidays around the world are in conjunction with reaping or harvesting or any other aspect of farming. It increases the supply of food and tax revenue to the government. “Investable surplus” is generated which further can be expanded to other industries and provides foreign exchange.

Due to the apparent abundance of food owing to technologies for growing, transporting and storage; modern day human has overlooked the fundamental dependence on agriculture. Agriculture provides nutrition which is a key determinant of health; it alleviates poverty and individual livelihood. Some other benefits are:
o Water – agricultural crops are the largest users of fresh water. Forests maintain the groundwater we draw from for our everyday uses. Husbandry affects the health of coastal waters.
o Energy – wood is a major source of fuel and energy. Modern biomass plants are fast growing in most countries. These provide clean energy and also aid economic growth.
o Health – agriculture provides nutrition to humans. We cannot live on meat, milk and poultry for more than 2 days without consuming grains or vegetables or fruits. Imagine what lack of agriculture could do to us.
o Biodiversity – ecological balances are maintained, changed or destroyed by agriculture alone. These are critical to sustaining development and health of our planet.
o Climatic changes – reduced agricultural growth adversely affects climate. Extreme events and ecological dysfunction will ultimately affect our planet and the human race.

It is a vicious cycle where environmental degradation is affecting agricultural productivity and agricultural practices are affecting the environment. To conclude agriculture, agricultural science and technology aids in reducing hunger, improving livelihood and increasing economic growth.

Indigenous and local agricultural practices need to be used along with scientific research and developments. There should be a co-ordination of international scientific programs for enhancing agriculture and agricultural produce. Policies and technologies that are conducive to sustainable use of natural resources must be shared internationally. It is imperative to alleviate hunger and look for the causes of nutritional insecurity and degraded natural resources. Productivity of crops, livestock and fisheries need to increased in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner which is acceptable to both the farmers as well as the consumers. Agriculture is an important aspect of every society for its social, economic and environmental growth.

The Philippines is an agrarian economy with agriculture being the main occupation of its people. Most of its citizens live in the rural areas and follow various livelihood options in the agricultural sector. The total land area in the country is 30 million hectares, out of which 47% is under agriculture. Prime agricultural lands are located around the main urban and high population density areas.

The agricultural sector in Philippines is divided into four sub-sectors comprising of farming, fisheries, livestock and forestry. Rice and corn account for nearly 50% of the agricultural produce in the country. This has led to the increased awareness about agricultural studies.

Besides rice and corn, the other important crop yields in the country are coconut, bananas, pineapple, coffee, mangoes and abaca (a banana type plant). Apart from these, the secondary agriculture produce include peanut, cassava, garlic, onion, egg-plant, cabbage, rubber, cotton and calamansi (type of lemon).

The agricultural land in the country is a mixture of small, medium and large farms. An average farm size is about 2 hectares which are usually owned and managed by single family units and range from the subsistence to the commercial production. The typical farming system constitutes of crop yields like rice, corn and coconut as common base and also includes a few heads of livestock and poultry.

Due to all these prevailing conditions, a need was felt to impart knowledge about the various agricultural practices and the latest trends being followed around the globe. This gave birth to the Agriculture Colleges in Philippines, some of which are owned by the state.

The following colleges in the country are considered to be the best in terms of infrastructure, the faculty and the quality of education.

Pampanga Agriculture College: Primarily established as an agricultural school, Pampanga Agriculture College became a state college in September 1974. Originally started in 1885, this century old institution is located on the foothills of the Majestic Mt. Arayat in the town of Magalang, province of Pampanga. It is spread out on an area of 700 hectares of government agricultural lands. The main focus of the college is on Instruction, Research & Development, Extension Training and Production.

Presently the college offers 13 under-graduate courses, 2-year computer course, 2-year course in agricultural technology, agricultural science high school, and graduate schools for three masters and three doctoral degrees.

Xavier University – College of Agriculture: This prestigious institution was founded in 1953 by the late Fr. William F. Masterson and is the second oldest amongst the colleges of agriculture in Mindanao and also has the proud position of being the only Catholic College of Agriculture in the entire country. It is also the founding member of the Association of Colleges of Agriculture of the Philippines (ACAP).

The curriculum of Xavier University – College of Agriculture is a distinctive combination of active field work and the liberal arts formation. The main thrust of the college is on Instruction, Research, Extension and Production.

Apart from the above two educational institutions, there are also many other state sponsored Universities which provide education on the different facets of agriculture. Most of the colleges are affiliated with some overseas faculty and organizations which provide valuable inputs on a regular basis.