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Turn ideas into action.

Develop creative solutions for top food and ag executives that address their business challenges.

Live Case Studies

Our Food & Agriculture Industry Immersion invites top executives to class to present live case studies about the pressing challenges they face. You'll team up with graduate students in food sciences and other fields to develop solutions on the fly and present to the leaders the same afternoon.

You'll benefit from these deep dives with top industry executives to better understand the complex forces shaping and driving this industry that have game-changing importance on local, national and global levels. Leverage UC Davis' global leadership in food and agriculture to advance your career.

Recent company live case studies include:

• Developing innovative food and beverage products for shifting consumer demand
• Innovation in food waste, preservation and upcycling
• Management challenges in a complex international vegetable seed business
• Innovation in the global CPG industry
• Sustainability in supply chain management for a global food ingredient business
• Building a multi-billion-dollar global berry business
• Product innovation to address global health and environmental issues

"This partnership continues to build on our strength as the leading MBA program for food and agriculture. Our students will have the opportunity to be part of launching several new food companies."

— Dean H. Rao Unnava

New Product Development and Market Research

The Graduate School of Management and the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health have partnered with Barnstorm Foundry, a food and heath startup foundry at UC Davis. The goal is to discover new markets for novel food ingredients and products that are nutritious, sustainable and accessible. MBA students evaluate food tech opportunities and publish publicly available reports on their market potential.

Recent student blogs about market research:

• Partnership between Food & AgTech VCs and UC Davis Researchers Opens Doors for MBAs
• How Our MBA Team Dug Deep into the Keto Diet Market
• The Evolving Market for Plant-based Milk: Alfalfa and Other Potential Sources

Student-Driven Food & Ag Seminar

In this student-led seminar elective course, you’ll dive deep into leading topics in food and ag, including the impact of climate change on agriculture, how to feed the world’s growing populations, and how to implement game-changing innovations. You’ll present to your peers on the latest technologies, strategies and practices.

Strategic Projects

The cornerstone of our MBA curriculum is our IMPACT courses (Integrated Management Project + Articulation and Critical Thinking), which build on your broad foundation of business knowledge and skills.

You'll put your collective business skills and knowledge to work on a 10-week IMPACT team project for a partner client. These projects often include top agribusinesses and startups in food, nutrition and health.

More than 80% of our clients adopt or implement
our MBA student teams’ solutions and recommendations.

By creatively responding to actual business challenges, you'll deepen the analytical, technical and leadership skills you need to succeed while helping companies grow their businesses or market share.

Recent projects for leading food and ag companies and startups include:

• Blue Diamond Growers
• Coca Cola Company
• Driscoll's
• E. & J. Gallo Winery
• Impossible Foods
• HM.CLAUSE
• Hall Wines
• Bucher Vaslin North America (BVNA)
• Community Grains

Blue Diamond Growers

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Blue Diamond Growers is an agricultural cooperative and marketing organization that specializes in California almonds. Student team evaluated options for new revenue streams; analyzed alternatives for leveraging innovated almond technology into new products and markets; created options for proposed packaging options related to new whitespace product category.

Coca Cola Company

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One of the world's largest public beverage companies asked student team to assess trends in sustainable packaging; plant-based beverage categories; and consumer behaviors in a specific geographic market. Team also analyzed strategic sourcing alternatives.

Driscoll's

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World's largest berry grower engaged student team to assess technological advancements in agricultural production, including evaluation of key issues, financial impact modeling and generation of a high-level deployment “road map” for targeted potential solutions.

E. & J. Gallo Winery

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One of the world's largest family-owned wineries engaged student team to analyze the capability to optimize inventory throughout the enterprise through evaluating the benefits of rebalancing vs. production; demonstrated financial advantages via working capital; and created a prototype for the process.

Impossible Foods

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Leader in plant-based products asked team to evaluate markets for byproducts from production processes; analyzes options for plant-based products in two separate, new product categories.

HM.CLAUSE

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Leading global seed manufacturer engaged student team to analyze competitive impacts of expanded presence of alternative vegetable production processes; developed key performance indicators and a tracking dashboard.

Hall Wines

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An unrivalled destination in the Napa Valley where winemaking excellence and innovation meet contemporary design to celebrate life and inspire the senses, Hall Wines asked student team to analyzed customer segments and developed potential marketing approaches for each segment of the winery.

Bucher Vaslin North America (BVNA)

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Leading wine industry equipment and consulting company engaged with student team to research customer perceptions and marketing strategies relative to other market participants.

Community Grains

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Student team analyzed customer preferences, price points, and brand strategy to differentiate boutique startup's sourcing and sustainability priorities. Community Grains contracts with farmers to grow heritage wheat locally, fairly, and sustainably to make flour, breads and pasta.