2015, Volume 18, Paper 105
ISSN: 1442-6951

How do some farm managers always seem to make the right decision?

Ian Gibb – Farmanco Pty Ltd, Kyabram.

It is self-evident that good farm managers consistently make better decisions than poor managers. The best formal evidence of this is obtained from survey data and ‘benchmarking’ studies. Any collection of farm data sets will reveal relatively weak relationships between so called ‘drivers’ and profit. We know that the range of productivity and profit from the use of similar resources is at least threefold for virtually all farm data sets. There is very little doubt that the key variable and the key driver of profit is management skill but what exactly is meant by ‘management skill’?

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