Final Phase Horticulture and Marketing
Bachelor of Agribusiness and Business Administration
Career opportunities
The sector supplies raw materials and other inputs for the food, flower and pharmaceutical industries. As a graduate, you are ready for staff, management and advisory positions in the first stages of horticultural value chains. Your utmost unique selling point is the ability to have a role in both supply and demand chains all over the world. You have solid technical knowledge regarding horticultural products and cultivation. In addition you're aware of market requirements and are able to create and utilize market opportunities, whether it is in a local or in a global setting. You can have a leading role in product or process innovations in horticultural chains as well.
For a role in the first stage of a value chain, graduates are prepared to work in a competitive arena within various cultural environments. You can accomplish organisational and decision making tasks, independently leading a team of employees. On the other side a graduate is a team player, contributing in strategic issues and supporting the higher management of the company.
After finishing your study, you may work in the tropics, or you could be internationally active in the Netherlands - a country that exports half of its agricultural output, yet whose supermarket shelves are full of foreign products. There are plenty of potential positions for you. Recently, a graduate became production manager on a farm in Zambia that grows green beans for export to Europe. Another graduate now works in Indonesia, where he manages the production of lilies. Other graduates have started their own farms, or work as import or export managers - in seeds, bulbs, propagation materials, flowers, plants, vegetables, and a variety of other products. Yet others are employed in the extension services or in the research sector.
Marco Zhang from China
student
"I come from Yunnan province, in the South-West of China. Yunnan is famous for the agriculture industry, especially tobacco and horticulture. The horticulture industry in Yunnan will increase rapidly in the next ten years, that is why I decided to go to Van Hall Larenstein to study Horticulture and Marketing. Van Hall Larenstein offered us many opportunities to open our eyes in the horticulture field, such as arranging excursions to horticulture companies, joining in the Horti-Fair, offering practical training in PTC. I have made many foreign friends after arriving at Wageningen, it is nice for students to build their future international business networks. In the future, maybe I can find a Dutch company in the Netherlands and help it to open up the Chinese and even Asian market. My final goal is setting up my own horticulture company in China."
Hector Pedreros from Colombia
alumnus
"At Van Hall Larenstein I found out how I could get access to the information I needed for my career in the international flower business. I am now involved in the export of flowers from Columbia to other countries, partly through the Netherlands' auction system."
"...wherever cultivation and economic conditions are best"
"Customers want guarantees of good quality and food safety."