Farm Management: Theory and Practice

Farm management is of the recent origin. The term “Farm Management” conveys different meanings by different people. Some take it to be another name of production economics or agricultural economics, while others consider farm management as nothing more than the farmer’s art of carrying out the daily work of supervision of farm. Like any other economic problem, farm management as a rational resource allocation proposition more particularly from the point of view of an individual farmer. On one hand a farmer has a certain set of farm resources such as land, labour, farm buildings, working capital, farm equipments etc. On the other side, the same farmer has a set of goals or objectives to achieve, may be maximum family satisfaction through increasing net farm income. Farm management is the collective term for various management strategies and methods that are employed to keep a farm productive and profitable. The process of this type of management is often associated with large commercial farms, although many of the same methods can be used with equal success on a small family-owned farm. Depending on the size of the operation, the management process may require the services of a single farm manager or a group of managers who oversee various aspects of the overall project. In many respects, effective farm management is similar to the management processes that are employed with any type of business. There are decisions that must be made on a daily basis, as well as operational guidelines that must be observed by everyone who is involved with the operation. Some participants are accountable to overseers or managers, who in turn are accountable to owners. What sets farm management apart from other moneymaking ventures is the kinds of daily duties involved and the number of management layers found in the operation. Even among farms, the processes will vary depending on the type of farming business involved and the overall size of the operation. The main object of farm management is to obtain the maximum net profit from the various enterprises on a farm. The main aim is to get maximum net returns from the farm as a whole. This leads to success. This object constitutes selection, combination and execution of enterprises consistent with a sound agricultural policy.