Build a real business plan for a real community partner
AGRI 247 gives you hands-on experience developing a complete agricultural business plan, including market analysis, enterprise budgets, operational planning, and financial projections. This fall, the course takes a new approach: instead of each student working on a separate hypothetical venture, the entire class will collaborate on one real project.
What you'll work on
Together, the class will develop a feasibility business plan for revitalizing a dormant Indigenous-owned farm near Kitwanga, BC, in partnership with Tea Creek, an Indigenous-owned organization run by Jacob Beaton and Jessica Ouellette. You'll work in teams on different components of the plan, then bring them together into a single, professional document that we'll hand off to Tea Creek to support their next steps. Unlike a classroom exercise, your work will have genuine stakes and a real audience.
How the course is structured
The course follows the established AGRI 247 outline. You'll still develop the core skills of agricultural business planning: market research, resource and infrastructure assessment, production and operational planning, and financial feasibility analysis. What's new is the shared, community-engaged project at the centre of it all. You'll also engage with Indigenous food sovereignty and community-driven agricultural development as part of the work.
The project continues into AGRI 248 in the winter term, so students are expected to take both courses in the same academic year.
The field trip to Kitwanga
A highlight of the term is an on-site visit to Tea Creek during Reading Break. The trip runs over three nights, with two travel days and two days on site. You'll have the chance to see the farm firsthand, learn directly from the community, and ground your planning in real conditions.
Thanks to funding from a CEWIL Canada iHub grant, travel and accommodation costs for the field trip are covered for domestic students. International students should connect with the instructor about participation and arrangements.
Before you register
Prerequisites: (AGRI 142 or BUS 100) and (CMNS 125 or ENGL 105).
Questions about the course or the field trip? Reach out to Chris Bodnar.
