Stan Parsons: the business of farming

摘要

In this first article on management I propose to use a broad brush to introduce the topic of business management - a subject that I believe has received too little attention in small business in general and in agriculture in particular. My approach to the subject of management may well differ from the traditional. For example I will argue the case that records - that favourite of traditional farm management - are largely a waste of time. Shaped through my work with farmers and ranchers in North America, Australia and, more recently, Zimbabwe, my interest in the subject of management has been aimed at the application of industrial management principles to agriculture.