The program offers courses in microeconomics, math programming, econometrics, and research methodology, plus courses in six specialty areas.

• Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: Students interested in the economics of water resources, natural resource valuation, forestry, and other factors in natural resource economics.
  
• Food and Health Economics: AAEC's food and health economics program is diverse, covering issues from nutrition to time allocation, SNAP program evaluation, and vaccine distribution. Previous student theses have looked at determining factors that impact the effectiveness of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education program in Virginia, and relative deprivation in China. 
• Management and Finance: Master's students in this specialization have worked on projects to discover the profitability of local niche marketing strategies such as the local foods movement, evaluate the benefits of food traceability technologies for agribusiness, and analyzed the profitability of agri-tourism, among other things. 
• Agribusiness Economics and Management: From commodity market analysis to risk management and policy, students looking to grow in this specialty may pursue projects within AAEC's agribusiness, risk management, and policy cluster. Master’s students in this specialization have examined topics related to commodity ETF tracking performance, futures-based forecasts of US crop prices, organic price premiums and risk in US feed grains markets, VA grain and feeder cattle basis analysis and forecasting. 
• International Development and Trade: Students in AAEC's international trade and development track investigate global issues of poverty, development, or trade through focused research on a number of projects throughout the world. Previous theses have focused on integrated pest management research, identifying crops with the largest economic benefit in Honduras, and much more. 
• Rural and Regional Development: AAEC's rural and regional development track allows students to investigate projects in Appalachia to remote regions of Southeast Asia looking at poverty and development issues. 

The Ph.D. degree in Economics requires 50 credits of coursework and at least 40 credits of research and dissertation (AAEC/ECON 7994). 

In the program's first year, the core requirements include one semester each of mathematical economics and macroeconomic theory and two semesters of microeconomic theory and econometric theory. In the program's second year, the core requirements include one semester of micro-econometrics and one semester of macroeconomic theory. Students also take the AAEC 5004 seminar course in professional ethics and expectations their first Fall semester and AAEC 6004 research seminar and professional development each semester starting in the second year.

Beyond the core coursework requirements, individual programs of study are determined jointly by the student and their advisory committee chair. The program of study will include the completion of two field courses in each of their two fields and at least one elective course that supports their fields and areas of research specialization. 

Students who are admitted to the Ph.D. program without having completed a master's degree at another institution often earn an M.S. at Virginia Tech as part of their Ph.D. program. The credit hours applied to the master's degree can also be counted toward the Ph.D. coursework requirements. A similar rule applies to students who are initially in a master's degree program and are subsequently admitted to the Ph.D. program. 

In addition to coursework, Ph.D. students are required to pass three examinations: (1) a written qualifying examination, (2) a written and oral preliminary examination, and (3) a final oral dissertation defense. More information on these requirements is available on the department's website.