Introduced by John Gardner, BGI's Dean of Academic Affairs

1. Food/Agriculture
Certificate

2. Who the Food/Ag Certificate For?
John Gardner, PhD Tony D’Onofrio, MBA
Dean, BGI Sustainability Director, Town & Country Market
Adjunct Professor of Crop and Soil Science, WSU
Executive Corporate Chef
Agronomic research, development Retail food and grocery business
Oilseed production, processing, marketing business

3. Who the Food/Ag Certificate For?
 Those with an interest in sustainable
agriculture business who are
 Seeking a job in alternative food/ag sector
 Planning to launch a business in the sustainable
food/ag sector
 Have a job in sustainable food/ag sector
 Very curious about this sector, but not yet sure
whether to enter it as a business owner or manager

5. Hybrid Format
 Lectures: Faculty and guests
 Classroom, online, video
 Dialog: Classroom and online
 Field trips
 Projects
 Starts Fall 2012 (special start Jan 2012 with
sufficient enrollment)

7. Four Course Sequence
 How the food/ag supply works today in the
US and globally
 The emerging alternatives in the food/ag
sector that focus on
economic, environmental, and social
performance
 Selecting a scale to operate a sustainable
food/ag business from hyper-local to global
 Practicum: a real world project

9. Key Concepts – Course 1
 Know context of current food/ag sector
 History, drivers, issues, obstacles to improved
performance of food and agriculture systems
 Policy, regulatory, and certification systems
 Current organizational design of US and global
food/ag businesses

11. Key Concepts – Course 2
 Examine emerging alternatives across
food/ag sector
 Understand successes and failures among
alternatives
 Practical and business challenges of alternatives

13. Key Concepts – Course 3
 The Importance of Scale
 Concepts and case studies of food/ag businesses
from hyper-local, local, regional, national, and global
scales
 Selection and assembly of supply chain among
scales
 Chain-of-custody and quality assurance mechanisms
among alternative supply chains
 Integration of food/ag systems

15. Key Concepts – Course 4
 Practicum - applying tools in an integrated real-
world project
 Options include
 Continuation from class 3
 New client or work project
 Formal implementation plan
 Stakeholder engagement
 Business case
 Present to:
 Client
 Class: representative experts

17. Venture Development Process
Hyper-local Local Regional National Global
 Creativity and design thinking
 Idea screening
 Business model generation
 Critique of business models
 Use of industry analysis and competitive surveys
 Preparing financials
 Presentation and review by panel of experts

19. Key Concepts
 Design thinking
 Problem identification
 Stakeholder identification
 Benchmark identification
 Critical thinking
 Project management and implementation

20. Questions?
bgi.edu
admissions@bgi.edu
206.855.9559