What you will learn
- Agricultural Growth and Productivity Analysis
- Sustainable Agrifood Supply Chain Management
- Global Agri-food, Livestock, and Crop Systems Solution
- Agricultural Economic Modeling Tools
- Environmental and Natural Resources Economics
- Food Futures and Market
The Sustainable Agriculture MicroMasters program provides you the knowledge to create a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. Its fundamental purpose is to help you meet current societal needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
You will learn that sustainable agriculture is more than a collection of sustainable agriculture methods and practices. It is also a process of negotiation: a push and pull between the sometimes competing interests of an individual farmer, a community, a nation, or geo-political groups as they work to solve complex problems about how to grow crops and livestock.
As a practitioner of sustainable agriculture — manager, grower, food processor, distributor, retailer, consumer, waste manager, or policymaker — the Sustainable Agriculture MicroMasters program will equip you to play a role in ensuring a sustainable agricultural system. A systems perspective is essential to understanding sustainability and implies interdisciplinary efforts.
You will gain an understanding of the importance of the sustainable agriculture system in its broadest sense, from the individual farm, to the local ecosystem, and to communities affected by crop and livestock production practices, both locally and globally. An emphasis on the system allows a larger and more thorough view of the consequences of crop and livestock practices on both human communities and the environment. A systems approach gives you the tools to explore the interconnections between agriculture and other aspects of our environment.
Farmers, laborers, policymakers, researchers, retailers, consumers, and managers have a responsibility to reach toward the goal of sustainable agriculture. This MicroMasters program provides you with the fundamental knowledge so that you can uniquely contribute to strengthen the sustainable agriculture community.
Courses in this program
DoaneX's Sustainable Agribusiness MicroMasters® Program
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
This course will provide an introduction to critical skills for understanding and evaluating sustainability metrics in relation to Agri-Food systems.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
This course examines the principles and practices of sustainable marketing in the agri-food industry and marketing’s role in the creation and management of relationships with customers and other stakeholders.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
Economic analysis of agricultural problems associated with use of renewable and nonrenewable environmental and natural resources.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
Learn how to utilize Agriculture Modeling tools to achieve economic and sustainability outcomes.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
Learners will analyze proposed solutions to some of the most pressing agri-food challenges and participate in creating innovative solutions to build a global food system in the face of rapidly changing climates, minimizing harm to Earth’s natural systems.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
Learn how to manage a sustainable agri-food chains that operates in a manner that exploits and optimizes the synergies among environmental protection, social fairness and economic growth.
- 10–15 hours per week, for 8 weeks
Take the Comprehensive Exam and demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired in the Sustainable Agribusiness MicroMasters program to earnyour DoaneX MicroMasters credential.
What is a MicroMasters Program?
MicroMasters programs are a series of graduate level courses from top universities designed to advance your career. MicroMasters program certificates showcase deep learning and in-demand skills to employers and can help you get started on a path toward completing an advanced degree.How to Earn a MicroMasters Program Certificate
Complete and successfully earn a Verified Certificate in all 6 Sustainable Agribusiness courses, plus pass the comprehensive capstone exam.From Program Certificate to a Master’s Degree
Those who successfully complete a verified certificate in the MicroMasters program in Sustainable Agribusiness may then apply to enroll in Doane University’s online Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) program. If accepted, the MicroMasters program certificate will account for 9 credits out of the total of 30 credits for the full MBA degree.The MBA program may be completed fully online and at the very affordable price of approximately $10,500. (This does not include the cost of the MicroMasters program verified certificate).
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) also offers a pathway to credit toward RIT's Master of Science in Professional Studies. If accepted into the program at RIT, students will be eligible for up to 9 credits which will serve toward one concentration required for this interdisciplinary degree. The MS in Professional Studies – which can be completed online or in-person – is a customized, flexible program that meets industry demand by enabling students to strategically combine multiple, complementary fields of study to reflect their unique career and educational goals.
- An average of nearly 60,000 high-skilled ag and related job openings are expected annually in the United States over the next five years, with only about 35,000 grads in food, ag, renewable resources or the environment graduating each year to fill them,
- Between 2015-2020, an average 26,700 annual jobs openings, or nearly half of the total predicted, will be available in mgmt and business within the food, ag and related segments: ag loan officers, farm labor and marketing specialists, land use managers.
- Within the next five years there will be about 8,500 jobs in sustainable food and biomaterials production they will make up an estimated 15 percent out of the total 27 percent new jobs in agriculture. (cnbc.com)
- Median Annual Salary (2015) $64,170 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Meet your instructors from Doane University (DoaneX)
Experts from DoaneX committed to teaching online learning
Program endorsements

Human health requires healthy food, healthy communities, healthy ecosystems, and a healthy planet. Doane University’s Institute for Human and Planetary Health distinguishes itself with its holistic approach to health promotion at all of these scales, and its emphasis on connections between them. Graduates of the Institute’s programs will be uniquely prepared to address personal, local, regional, and global health challenges, recognizing that none of these occur in isolation. It is a much-needed perspective.
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