Any large project involves an equally large number of individuals, and this book is no exception. First, we want to acknowledge the work done on previous editions of this textbook by Drs. Steven P. Erickson and W. David Downey. Their work provided the foundation for the fifth edition. Dr. Erickson passed away before the third edition of this book was published. He was a brilliant, award-winning educator, who received numerous teaching awards, including the American Agricultural Economics Association’s Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Charles B. Murphy Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching (Purdue’s highest teaching award). Dr. W. David Downey is Professor Emeritus of Purdue University. A dynamic and inspiring teacher, Dr. Downey taught courses in agri-selling and agri-marketing strategy to undergraduate students from across the Purdue campus. He was Founding Co-Director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business and instrumental in the development of a curriculum in which students could earn a four-year B.S. degree in agri-sales and marketing—the first such program in the U.S. Dave received much recognition for professional excellence, including four major teaching awards from Purdue University and two national awards from the American Agricultural Economics Association.
We also want to acknowledge Research Development Editor Kathleen Erickson, who served a variety of roles while working on both the third and fourth editions, ranging from conducting background research to discussing content and focus as both editions of this manuscript moved from idea to reality.
We need to acknowledge the role of both students and managers we have worked with for the past 30 years. Their input, comments, and suggestions have played an important part in shaping the ideas and presentation of this text. In addition, we sincerely appreciate students enrolled in the undergraduate agribusiness course at Purdue University since publication of the fourth edition for providing suggestions on how to improve chapters, discussion questions, and cases studies contained in this textbook.
Finally, we sincerely appreciate the sacrifices made by our families, since the time spent revising this textbook was time that would have otherwise been spent at home and with family members. Their sacrifice and understanding enabled the authors to spend the time required for this textbook revision to become a reality.