Harper Adams MSc International Agri-Business

UK · Harper Adams University · pg

128practice questions written to this syllabus
4subjects

Format

1 year full-time or 3 years part-time; September 2026 and February 2027 starts.

Sections

Over the years

An online-only route has been announced (news page not opened).

Official source: https://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/201259/international-agri-business

Subjects this exam draws on

Agri Value Chain Management27 questionsInternational Agri Trade & Export Management39 questionsEconomic Development and Agricultural Economies of the World12 questionsFood Retail & Agri-food Retail Management50 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. A drought causes food prices to spike for one season, and many households that normally eat adequately cut meals. Which dimension of food security is most directly failing?

  1. Utilisation
  2. Availability in the long run
  3. Stability
  4. Food environment
Answer and working

C. Stability

The four dimensions (1996 World Food Summit) are availability, access, utilisation and stability. A temporary shock that interrupts otherwise adequate access is a failure of stability. Utilisation concerns the body's use of food (diet quality, health, water and sanitation); the food environment is part of the HLPE food-system framework, not a food-security dimension.

Agri Value Chain Management · Global food systems

2. In the standardised-product stage of Vernon's product life cycle:

  1. Production shifts to lower-cost countries and the innovating country may import the product
  2. Only the innovating country consumes the product
  3. Production usually stays concentrated in the innovating country, close to its high-income consumers
  4. Prices are high and competition is based on novelty and brand, not on production cost
Answer and working

A. Production shifts to lower-cost countries and the innovating country may import the product

Once the technology is standardised, cost becomes decisive, production moves to low-wage locations and the innovating country can become an importer. The other options describe the new-product stage.

International Agri Trade & Export Management · Product life-cycle theory of trade

3. The World Trade Organization came into being on:

  1. 1 January 1948
  2. 15 April 1994
  3. 1 January 2001
  4. 1 January 1995
Answer and working

D. 1 January 1995

The WTO was established on 1 January 1995. GATT came into force in 1948; 15 April 1994 is the date the Uruguay Round agreements were signed at Marrakesh; 2001 is the launch of the Doha Round.

Economic Development and Agricultural Economies of the World · Agricultural trade and the WTO

4. In a country's grocery market the eight largest chains have shares of 28, 22, 15, 10, 8, 7, 5 and 5 percent. What is the four-firm concentration ratio (CR4)?

  1. 75 percent
  2. 100 percent
  3. 50 percent
  4. 1593
Answer and working

A. 75 percent

CR4 = 28 + 22 + 15 + 10 = 75%. 100% sums all eight firms, 50% is CR2, and 1593 is a partial Herfindahl sum of squares, a different measure.

Food Retail & Agri-food Retail Management · The international food market

5. In a vegetable chain, smallholders bear almost all weather risk because a processor buys on the spot market only when supply suits it. Which governance change would move some climate risk to the actor better able to bear it?

  1. Moving all farmers to spot sales at the wholesale market, where many buyers compete and absorb the weather shocks
  2. Asking farmers to plant a single high-yield variety
  3. Shortening payment terms from 30 to 60 days
  4. A multi-season contract with agreed volumes and risk sharing, backed by index insurance arranged by the processor
Answer and working

D. A multi-season contract with agreed volumes and risk sharing, backed by index insurance arranged by the processor

A value-chain view asks who bears risk and who can bear it. Longer contracts with risk-sharing and insurance organised at scale shift some risk to the larger, diversified processor. Spot sales keep risk with farmers, a single variety concentrates risk, and 60 days is a longer, not shorter, payment delay.

Agri Value Chain Management · External drivers: climate and technology

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