The Importance of Continuous Training  

The South African government has realised the importance to invest in employee training and therefore promulgated the Skills Development Act whereby companies are encouraged to send their employees for further training.  With the world of business and industry facing rapid technological advancements and vying to remain competitive, educational programmes are needed to provide our agricultural workforce with customised training programmes.  
The Centre for Agricultural Management at the University of the Free State (UFS) identified solutions for meeting this need and started with the development of the Certificate Training Package which consists of a series of short courses in agriculture.
At the launching ceremony of the Certificate Training Package in February 2000, Dr Wimpie Nell, director of the Centre for Agricultural Management at the University of the Free State, emphasised the importance of continuous training and sharpening of the modern farmer/manager to achieve sustainable success. This series of short courses that forms part of the informal training programme is the most comprehensive of its kind in the South African agriculture and offer farmers/managers the opportunity to prepare themselves for the challenges of a highly turbulent national and international environment. Customised and continuing agricultural training courses are presented to farmers, agricultural companies and individuals throughout South Africa to meet these needs.  More than 1 000 farmers have already attended courses during the first five years of its existence and meaningful progress has been made with the development of courses for emerging farmers.
To be successful, brainpower will become more important than resources.  To be a top farmer, farmers will have to take a different approach to farming. Farmers need to acquaint themselves with the latest technologies and management tasks. The farmer cannot close his door on new technologies without understanding what it offers and how to best use these technologies.  Additional training has therefore become an absolute necessity and hopefully, through the short courses offered at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, we can find opportunities to build bridges that will enhance our ability to transfer knowledge from our science into useful agricultural development.
There is still scope to make money out of agriculture.  In the present economical situation it is, however, not so easy and the farmer/manager must be razor-sharp to be successful.  There are tools available for farmers/managers to face these challenges.  Tools such as development of creative and entrepreneurial skills, strategic planning and continuous training must be utilised to combat the ongoing price:cost squeeze and accompanying deterioration of the financial position of the South African farmer.
The South African farmer/manager must also become internationally involved with farming activities to be successful in future.  This will have to be managed, and levels of expertise will have to be improved (Du Plessis, 2000).

PROFILE OF A GOOD FARM BUSINESS MANAGER
In an article on the profile of a good farm business manager, Johnston (2001), mentions a study done by Klinefelter while presenting a business school for top farmers, called The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers. Over the past 10 years Klinefelter studied the working habits of more than 600 of the world's best farm managers who attended the school and compiled the following list of characteristics, which are the factors contributing to farming success in the United States of America (http://www.agriculture.com/sfonline/sf/2001/farm_management.htm):
Top farmers see themselves as sellers, and their buyers as customers.
Topboere sien hulself as verkopers en hul kopers as klante, anders as die meeste boere wat hulself die meeste van die tyd as die klant sien.
Top farmers focus on creating value, rather than quantity.
Topboere is op die skep van waarde gerig, eerder as kwantiteit. Opbrengs is nie alles nie.
Top farmers try to push themselves up the supply chain.
Hulle probeer opwaarts in die voorsieningsketting beweeg.
Top farmers are open to new ideas.
Hulle is oop vir nuwe idees en luister na alle kante van 'n saak.
Top farmers are strategic thinkers.
Hulle is strategiese denkers.
Top farmers objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of people and then capitalise on the strengths.
Hulle bepaal mense se sterk en swak punte objektief en put dan waarde uit die sterk punte.
Top farmers operate in a continuous improvement mode; they are never fully satisfied, but always looking for ways to make incremental improvements.
Goeie boere probeer voortdurend verbeter op wat hulle reeds bereik het. Hulle is nooit heeltemal tevrede nie en soek altyd maniere om klein verbeterings aan te bring.
Top farmers tend to take a systems approach, and not a components approach to things.
Goeie plaasbestuurders volg 'n stelsel-benadering en is nie op afsonderlike komponente gerig nie.
Top farmers are calculated risk-takers and excellent risk managers.
Hulle neem berekende risiko's en is uitstekende risikobestuurders.  As hulle foute maak, stel hulle dit vinnig reg.
Top farmers think through many “what if” scenarios; they know their options if something does not work.
Hulle ontleed baie “wat as”-scenario's. Voordat hulle 'n kontrak sluit, het hulle reeds 'n uittree-strategie. As iets nie werk nie, vra hulle hulself dadelik af wat hul opsies is.
Top farmers seek input and expertise from outside their commodity, geography and even outside of agriculture.
Hulle benut kundigheid en bydraes van buite hul eie kommoditeit, omgewing en selfs van buite die landbou.
Top farmers see change and challenges as opportunities and they do not see themselves as victims.
Hulle sien verandering en uitdagings as geleenthede, en sien hulself nie as slagoffers nie. Hulle weet dat as daar uitdagings in 'n sakebedryf is, kan die bestuurder met die besliste mededingende voordeel hom eerste daarby aanpas.
Top farmers see themselves more as a head coach than a boss; they allocate resources and ask themselves how they can help people succeed.
Hulle sien hulself meer as rigtinggewend eerder as 'n baas. Hulle deel hulpbronne toe en vra hulself af hoe hulle hul mense kan help om suksesvol te wees.
Top farmers have a balanced approach to management; they are involved in everything instead of controlling everything.
Hul benadering tot bestuur is gebalanseerd. Hulle is in alles betrokke, maar het nie beheer oor alles nie.
Top farmers spend a lot of time monitoring and analysing; they work on fixing root problems and not symptoms.
Hulle bestee baie tyd aan kontrole en ontleding. Hulle bestee hul geld om die wortel van  'n probleem op te los, en nie die simptome nie.
Top farmers make decisions based on reason and judgement and not emotion.
Hul besluite is op redelikheid en goeie oordeel gegrond, en nie op emosie nie.
Top farmers are creative and innovative.
Hulle is kreatief en innoverend.
Top farmers are good communicators. Their employees know where the business is headed, how they intend to get there, what their role is and what they will get out of it.
Hulle is goeie kommunikeerders.  Hulle verwag van hul werkers om te vra waarheen die onderneming op pad is, hoe hulle van plan is om hul doelwitte te bereik, wat hul rol is en wat hulle daaruit kan kry.
The above-mentioned list of characteristics indicates that successful farmers/managers all over the world basically face the same challenges to be successful in the long run.  Most of these factors can be equally applied to the South African situation.  These characteristics can be used as a check-list for any farmer to determine in which areas he needs further development or training.